Psych's New Secretary
by a proud geekfreak
Summary: Gus and Shawn never expected to get a secretary, but when Lassiter won't let them say no, they don't have a choice and this secretary might be too much for the boys to handle especially when they figure out who her uncle is. Completed!
1. This or Jail

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing and yeah... these things always lower my self esteem.  
** A/N: **this idea for a story came to after going to the psych page and playing the in training games and thought what if they actually did this to train a new secretary, and thus the idea of Psych's New Secretary was born. the end. please scroll down now.

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It takes a lot to surprise Shawn Spencer. Growing up with his father he learned to expect the unexpected, yet he was still surprised by the scene he found when he opened the door to his Psych office. There stood Carlton Lassiter with his cold eyes and a scowl set in stone, with a rather young woman wearing tight black jeans, and some band shirt of a group Shawn had never heard of, her light blue eyes glaring at him, the only part of her face that showed emotions. 

"Good, you're here," Carlton said and pushed his way in, dragging the girl.

"Uh please come in Detective Lassieface and girl I've never seen before," Shawn replied after being pushed out of the way.

"I like that," the girl mumbled, "Detective Lassieface."

Carlton glowered at her, but said, "So this is where you're going to be working. You answer phones, take messages, give messages and don't talk to Spencer unless it's work related. I don't want you getting into any conversation about which is the better fruit, bananas or pineapples."

"Well it's so clearly pineapples that there is no need to discuss it," Shawn replied.

"Shawn, be serious," Gus scolded. "Lassiter, what you do you mean she will be working here?"

"Spencer, Gus, this is Psych's new secretary," Carlton said, and pushed the girl forward.

She was annoyed, that was clear from her facial expression and with her arms folded across her chest that was the annoyed cherry on the annoyed sundae. "As you can tell, I'm thrilled about it," she stated dryly.

"Um, thanks for the reference Lassie, but we…" Shawn replied, trailing off looking for Gus to help.

"Our budget can't really afford a secretary right now," Gus finished.

"She's going to work for free," Lassiter stated, trying to end this discussion.

"They don't want me, okay? Can we just leave?" the girl asked, now glaring at Carlton.

"No! It's either this or jail," Carlton told her.

Shawn and Gus found each other's eyes, sharing a look of surprise and panic especially after she said, "I'd rather take jail."

"Uh, see Lassiter, the thing is," Shawn interrupted this argument, hoping if he used Carlton's name respectfully he'll listen, "at Psych we don't have strict standards, but the ones we do we try to follow. The first one is that anyone who works here has to be old enough to buy a pack of smokes. Now, I'm not encouraging anyone to smoke, we just want him or her to be old enough so I can't get hit with anything like statutory rape."

Carlton, in an instant, grabbed Shawn's arm and pulled him close, squeezing. "There will be no contact between you and her, I don't even want you making eye contact with her. Got it?"

"Relax Lassieface," the girl said, mocking him.

He glared at her, but let Shawn go. He rubbed his bruising arm and said, "The second requirement is that anyone who works here shouldn't be taking this over jail. And I don't think she meets either one of those."

"I'm eighteen idiot," she snarled.

"In a week you will be," Carlton corrected her. "If you were then you'd be in jail."

"Then in six days I'll do the same thing," she snapped.

Carlton lost it at this. He grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the desk. He forced her in the chair and commanded, "Stay."

"No." She tried to get up, but Carlton pushed her back down and pulled out his handcuffs. He quickly put one metal bracelet on her wrist and the other on the chair. She glared at him, and tried to raise her arm, but was only greeted by the song of metal clinking against each other.

"What if I have to pee?" she whined.

"Shut up, for the love of God! How does your mother stand you?" He was nearly yelling, getting red in the face.

"Why do you think she left?" she screamed back.

"You think you're going to get any pity out of me?" he asked, glaring at her.

"Not asking for any, just you off my back," she told him.

"Trust me, in six days if you pull any stupid stunts, I'll be happy to arrest you, stick you in a cell and leave you there," he retorted.

"Great, let the countdown begin."

He turned away from her and faced Shawn and Gus. "You two, come here." He led them away from the girl and whispered in a low voice, "Listen, the only way I could convince the judge not to give her jail time was if I had a place where she could be supervised while she completed her community service. And since you're technically part of the police department, the judge was more then willing to let her come here."

"Don't you need our permission for that?" Gus asked.

Carlton nodded. "You signed a release paper already. And I would never ask you this but I will kill her if I have to spend another hour with her. So please just take her off my hands."

"Hold on, we have to confer and then see what the spirits have to say," Shawn told him, and pulled Gus to the side.

"We can't take her Shawn, she'll probably set the place on fire," Gus warned.

"Gus, Lassiter is asking us for a huge favor, he will totally owe us. Plus, he's desperate, we can't miss this opportunity," Shawn told him, and ended the discussion.

He came back to Carlton and offered, "We'll take her, but you'll owe us one."

They saw Carlton shudder with displeasure, but also nod.

"And you leave the handcuffs," Gus added.

He nodded, handed Gus the keys, and walked back to the girl. "I'll be back after my shift, do not misbehave."

She nodded in defeat and right before he walked out the door she called out, "Bye Uncle Carl!"

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	2. Pineapple vs Banana

hey everyone! thanks for the reviews, honestly I posted the story before I went on vacation and I didn't think it worked so coming back and seeing these people reviewing and added to their story alerts, THANKS!!! means a lot, so here's another chapter, not quite that much action, but you get to know the girl a little better.

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Shawn and Gus just stood there and stared at the girl. She stared back, wondering what to do now. She was still handcuffed, and was beginning to wish she had been handcuffed to a rolling chair. She kept pulling at her restraint, making the only noise in the office. Finally she gave up and asked, "So, can you uncuff me now?" 

Gus laughed and said, "Hell no, you're practically a convicted felon."

"All right, then could you please handcuff the hand I don't use?" she requested.

Shawn smiled, and grabbed the keys from Gus's hand. He walked over and unlocked her. He sat on the desk and stared down at her. "Hi, I'm Shawn Spencer."

"Gloria, and I don't think I'm supposed to talk with you," she told him.

"You always do what Uncle Lassie says?"

"Hardly ever," she answered. "So, apparently we're supposed to get into a discussion about bananas vs. pineapples, and you're taking the pineapple side, right?"

"Oh good she has a sense of humor," Gus stated dryly.

"Yeah it helps me detect when people are being sarcastic," she shot back.

The phone rang. Shawn, Gus and Gloria all just stared at it. It rang again, and Gus asked, "You gonna get that?"

She raised her eyebrows at him, but as soon as it ran again she picked it up. "Hello, Psych." She paused, grinned at Shawn and said, "I'm sorry sir, but Mr. Spencer is in a meeting right now, may I take a message? … His father? Oh, I'm sorry but Shawn gave strict orders not to let your calls go through. It had something to do with the fact he found you an annoying old man."

Shawn heard his dad yell through the phone, and quickly snatched it out of Gloria's hand. "Dad, hey, how are you? … No, Dad, I never said that. That was all our soon to be ex-secretary's doing. I specifically told her to always let your calls through, since you were such a wise and experienced man."

He glared at Gloria who was smirking at his discomfort, while his dad could be heard screaming through the phone. "Listen Dad, I'm sorry about that, okay? I'll talk to my secretary and it will never happen again. … Yeah, sure, we can talk about this at dinner tonight." Shawn made a disgusted face, which Gus smirked at. "I'll bring Gus, how does that sound?"

"I'm not going Shawn," Gus told him.

"All right, we'll see you around seven. Bye Dad." Shawn hung up the phone, and then handcuffed Gloria back to the chair.

"Aw hey, can't you take a joke?" she asked slightly annoyed, but was pleased to see this time it was her left hand that was restrained.

"From now on you answer the phone with a 'Hello Psych' and when they ask to speak to us you asked who is calling, and then say 'Hello George O'Client,' and I will give you a thumbs up if we will take the call. If there is no thumbs up you tell them we're in a meeting and take a message. Do not insult the caller anymore, got in?" Shawn ordered.

She nodded and muttered, "You're taking all the fun out of my punishment."

"All right, now Gus and I are about to tackle a very important job of playing Mario Kart," Shawn said and then ran over to the TV where the N64 was set up. "I call Peach!"

"No fair, you always get Peach," Gus whined.

Gloria rolled her eyes at them, and sat back in her chair, trying to get comfortable.

After a couple hours of the two "adults" skipping around from video game to video game, they decided that they wanted Chinese. Shawn decided to give Gloria her first test as a secretary, ordering food for them. She called up the restaurant, and started to place the order, which was harder then it seems since Shawn kept changing his order. Finally she just said, "C-28 and an egg roll. No that's it. All right, thanks." She paused and looked quickly over at her employers. She then said into the phone, "Oh you do, all right hold on a sec." She covered the phone and called over, "They want a credit card number."

Gus paused the game and pulled out his wallet. As he searched for a card Shawn started the game again and killed Gus's player.

"Shawn! What the hell?"

"Dude I can't believe you fell for that," Shawn told him with just the hint of smugness.

"I was getting out a credit card to pay for the food!" Gus explained.

Shawn looked over to Gloria and said, "Oh you're good."

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You restrained from saying, 'Guys, I need the credit card,' because that would have given yourself away," Shawn said. He turned to Gus and scolded, "For shame for falling for that. Dude, when was the last time you needed to give your credit card number to order Chinese food?"

Gus realized he was right, like always, and cried, "You were going to steal my identity."

"I would have stolen Shawn's too, you just offered up your card number first," she replied.

"Now Gloria, what do you have to say?" Shawn asked.

She just grinned and said in a satiric tone, "Man, I hate working for a psychic."

When it was time for Gus to go his paying job, Shawn and him got into a fight. Gus didn't trust Shawn alone with Gloria, and Shawn wanted Gus to leave so he could get to know Gloria a little better. The fight finally ended with Shawn pushing Gus out the door, saying he was going to get fired if he didn't leave now.

Finally they were alone, and Shawn pulled a chair over to her. He smiled at her, which in return all he got was a scowl. "So why don't you tell me more about Gloria, besides you like unknown rock bands and you over use eye shadow."

She frowned and told him, "Well me and my over made up eyes hate people who think they know everything, and act condescendingly towards other people. Also, this unknown band is going to be the next Motley Crue."

"Their drummer is going to make a sex tape with a hot blonde?"

"Ha ha. You're a riot."

"So you like rock, what other kind of music?"

"You don't care," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"No, I do care," he said, slightly hurt by her not responding to his genuine interest.

"Do you really want to know?" He nodded so she answered, "I like eighty's punk, British and American, the ninety's grunge scene, sixty, seventy rock, and the new alternative stuff that's being produced underground."

"Wow, you have that well thought out," Shawn replied when she had answered him in one breath.

She shrugged and responded, "I like music."

"You in a band?"

"No."

"Would you like to be? I'm not in a band either and I always wanted to be," Shawn confessed.

She rolled her eyes and replied, "I'm sorry, I have to decline."

"All right, so you're almost eighteen, where does that put you in school?"

"I graduated," she replied.

"Great, college?"

"Westmont College."

"The Christian school?"

"Not my ideal choice, obviously."

"Where do you want to go?"

She shook her head and explained, "I don't trust you enough to tell you."

"So it's a trust issue," he clarified. "What can I do get you trust me?"

"Men don't deserve trust," she stated clearly.

"What about your mom? You said she left you?"

Gloria rolled her eyes and sighed, frustrated. "Why do people take me literally? I meant she left on vacation, and didn't take me with her."

"Where's your dad?"

"Still married to his money in Los Angeles," she told him. "He saw me as an economical hurtle that he jumped by giving my mother a large sum of money right after my birth, instead of the continual child support thus avoid the cost of inflation. It was an ingenious maneuver that spared his bank account really."

"You lost me at economical," Shawn replied.

"Put simply, my dad paid my mom off so he wouldn't have to be around for me."

"I wished my father would be around less," he muttered.

"Daddy loves you too much?"

"Not quite, but now I got to go to dinner tonight with him thanks to my new secretary."

She smirked at him, but a knock on the door cut off her reply. Carlton stepped in the office and looked at the two. He glared at Shawn and snapped, "What did I say about making eye contact Spencer?"

"I was just telling her that tomorrow we will categorize my pineapple collection," Shawn explained.

Carlton still eyed him suspiciously, so Shawn grabbed the keys to her handcuffs, and made of point of not looking in her eyes as he unlocked her. Instead he kept his eyes on Carlton's hateful glare, noticing an underlining look of protectiveness in them.

Gloria got up and walked over to Carlton, but not without giving Shawn one final, mischievous, playful grin only because she knew it would annoy her uncle before she walked out.

Shawn grinned back, knowing this situation he was in, was going to be fun.

"So Uncle Carl," Gloria began once they were in his car, "what's for dinner?"


	3. A Dead Body

**A/N:** hey, thanks for all the positive feedback! I loved it and hope you keep it coming! here's my next chapter, I hope you enjoy it!

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"So Uncle Carl, what's for dinner?"

"Damn, am I supposed to feed you?" Carlton asked, exaggerated. "I wasn't even aware I was supposed to be taking care till I got the phone call from the arresting officer."

Gloria turned her head away from him, trying to keep her tongue in check. "It's fine, I was joking anyways. My mom left me some money for food, I'll buy pizza with it."

That was a lie; her mom didn't even leave her with a "good luck".

"No, if you want to eat together we can," Carlton told her.

"No really, it's fine because I actually don't want to eat together," she snapped.

"All right then," he replied, a little hurt. He sighed, trying to remember the last time he had actually spent with his niece. It had been years, he has not even seen her for any of the holidays. It was shame really. He used to spend a lot more time with her when she was much younger, babysat her a lot for his sister.

"I guess you don't need babysitting anymore," he muttered.

"No Uncle Carl, I don't."

"All right, what time do you have to be in tomorrow?"

"I can just take the bus tomorrow so you don't have to worry about driving me there," Gloria suggested, as Carlton pulled up to her house.

"Like I'm supposed to trust you enough to show up."

"I give you a call from the office phone and have either Gus or Shawn talk to you, alright?" she said, before getting out and slamming the car door. In a huff, she made her way to the empty house.

Six weeks ago she would have done anything to avoid this house. Back then it was filled with her mother, her mother's boyfriend, booze and crooked laughter. Those elements made Gloria dread going home, especially after the first week, when she couldn't stand it anymore. But now the house was empty, has been for four weeks. The only sound was her footsteps, her humming, and just her. As isolated as she was, it did not bother her. She loved it. The silence was comforting.

Tonight she glanced up the stairs, towards her room. For five weeks she had not spent more the five minutes a day in that room, maybe tonight was the night she was going to actually sleep in her own bed. She looked back up, and decided against it. Instead she flopped on the couch, like she has done so many nights before.

Carlton leaned against his car as he waited for his niece outside her house. He looked at the house; it was small, pretty rundown, and not very appeasing to look at. He had never been in this house. His sister and Gloria had moved to Santa Barbara from a couple towns away, when Gloria was almost thirteen. Carlton had been to their old house quite a few times, but he was never invited over to this one. The last time he saw his sister was about six years ago.

Gloria slammed the door behind her, bring Carlton out of his train of thought. Today she had opted for light jeans and band shirt of The Ramones, something even Carlton had heard off.

She glanced at him, sizing him up and down. He had two cups of coffee in his hand and greeted her with a forced smile.

"Morning Gloria, would you like a latte? That's what kids drink today, right?" he asked, trying too hard to be kind.

"Trying to buy my forgiveness with a latte?" she replied, to which he nodded. She sighed and took the latte. He was trying, that was something. "It worked."

They rode to the Psych office in silence, both to nervous around each other to find the courage to say something. When the finally arrived, she managed to squeak out, "Thanks for the ride."

"Uh, tomorrow if in the morning you want to take the bus you can," he offered.

She nodded. "Thanks."

As she stepped out the car, he called out, "I'm still gonna call."

"All right Uncle Carl," she replied, laughing.

"Good morning Gloria," Shawn greeted, coming through the door after making her and Gus wait thirty minutes.

"Shawn, you're late."

"Yeah, if you can come in thirty minutes late, I want to too," Gloria added.

Shawn just smiled sweetly at the two and explained, "I thought you two needed the time to bond, so have you bonded?"

"No," Gus replied sternly.

Gloria glared at him, and Shawn saw why. Both her hands were handcuffed to the chair, and it looked rather uncomfortable.

"Did you two even talk?"

"Not really," Gus replied.

"Not even a word," she clarified.

"You know, I think you two might get along better if you actually talk," Shawn said.

"Like I would talk to a convicted felon," Gus murmured.

"Okay, let's get this out in the air," Shawn cried. "Gloria, what did you do to get arrested?"

"I killed a man."

Shawn just smirked at her, and she knew he didn't believe her.

"All right, I robbed a bank."

"Ph," Gus muttered.

"Committed insurance fraud. Stole the mayor's car." They still weren't buying it. "Fine, you want the truth?" They nodded. "I was in an underground organization for the liberation of the lobsters in Santa Barbara, but the police caught on and arrested us since we are technically a terrorist group."

"You're not going to tell us, are you?" Gus clarified.

"Probably not."

The phone rang, and Gloria went to pick it up, but her metal restraints kept her hands stationary. Shawn sighed and picked up the phone.

"Hello Psych… Oh, hi Jules. What's up?… Yeah, no problem, I'll be right there."

He hung up the phone and turned to Gus. "All right, we're needed downtown."

"Okay, but what are we going to do about her?" Gus asked, pointing towards Gloria.

Shawn grinned evilly and replied, "I've got an idea."

They tried to keep their hands as far as part as the handcuffs would let them, but the metal bracelets kept aggravating their wrists.

"Stop pulling," Gus snapped.

"I will if you will," Gloria replied, glaring at him.

"Come on guys," Shawn said, free as a bird ahead of them. "Jules said they were right up the hill."

Gus and Gloria trudged along after him, both angry they were stuck next to each other. The three made their way through the park downtown, and as Shawn moved away some branches he revealed a scene with police buzzing around a marked off section of the woods snapping pictures and jotting down notes. Shawn quickly spotted the blonde, pretty Detective Juliet O'Hara, and made his way over.

"Hey Jules," he greeted energetic.

"Hi Shawn," she replied and then notice Gus chained to some strange girl. "Who's the girl?"

"She's our secretary," Shawn answered.

"Why is she handcuffed to Gus?"

"Part of her training," he replied. "She's learning how deal with Gus when he's being a sour puss."

Juliet glanced over at Gus and realized that he did appear very upset with his situation. Before she had a chance to comment, Carlton walked over staring at a folder.

"Hey Lassieface!" Shawn cried out.

Carlton glared at him, and murmured, "Spencer…" He then noticed Gloria waving to him with her handcuffed hand, causing Gus' hand to flail around and Carlton asked, "Do I even want to know?"

Shawn followed his gaze, and just smirked at him. "Probably not. So what's going on here?"

"There was a witness who said she saw a man come over to this woman in her early twenties, and start to harass the woman. At first the woman didn't seem to mind, kept trying to push him away, but then he got psychical. Our witness then heard the woman scream, and then the woman ran off to this area, out of the witness' sight and screamed again. Our witness then called nine one one, but once the police arrived the man and the woman were gone, not leaving a trace behind them." Carlton used his hands to better show his story as he spun the tale.

"Shawn, the chief wanted you to see if you could get a read on this spot and figure out where the woman and man disappeared to," Juliet explained.

Shawn nodded and took a quick glance around the scene before closing his eyes to get his psychic "read". During his glance around, he noticed a small torn piece of blue wrapper against the brown dirt. Shawn recognized the shade of blue from a condom wrapper that he has used in the past.

He began to groan and moan, "Come on, you know what I want."

He paused and then said in a high, girly voice, "No, not tonight, I'm tired."

He then moaned, "Don't give me that crap."

"Shawn, what's wrong?" Gus played along, and placed a hand on Shawn's shoulder, shaking it a little.

Shawn snapped back into reality and spelled out, "Sex, he wanted sex, but she wasn't feeling it. He even had a condom with him because he wasn't taking no for answer."

"Are you saying he raped her?" Juliet asked, trying to hide her mortification.

"No, he wanted to make her a balloon animal to get into her pants, but all he had was a condom," Gloria muttered only audible for Gus, to which he snorted, trying to hold back his inappropriate laughter.

"What, you think this is funny?" Carlton snapped.

"No," Gus quickly said, shaking his head.

Carlton sneered at him and then his eyes narrowed at Shawn, "All right Spencer, can your spirits tell us where the two went?"

Shawn's eyes darted around; he noticed a disturbance in the dirt leading towards a bunch of bushes and trees. Then he noticed a broken branch tossed off to the side.

"Actually Lassie, you're in luck. The spirits are leading me this way," Shawn said, and walked off in the area of the bushes and trees. Everyone followed closely as Shawn swayed in his path just to be dramatic. He peeked out his closed eyes to check the bushes before the other's arrived. A body of woman was lying there, motionless with torn clothes indicating sexual assault and dark purple bruises around her neck.

"Here she is," Shawn cried out, making the detectives run over.

They both grimaced, but as soon as Gus saw the body he had to muffle a scream. Gloria just stared at the woman, her face becoming blank and her eyes glazed over with a surreal gloss. Shawn watched as she titled her head to the side and asked quietly, "He raped and strangled her, right?"

This brought Carlton into focus. He seemed to realize for the first time that Gloria was there. He placed a hand on her arm and said, "Gloria, don't look."

She tilted her head to the other side and replied, "But… she's dead. He strangled her."

She felt she started to get lightheaded, her legs weaken, and her body felt like jello. Carlton also noticed his niece was getting pale. "She's about to faint," he warned and placed an arm around her for support.

"I just need to sit," she corrected him weakly as her breathing became jagged.

He tried to lead her away, but the metal restraints stop him. "Give me the damn keys," he ordered Gus harshly.

"Shawn has them."

"Spencer," Carlton hissed, and Shawn quickly handed over the keys.

He released her from the metal restraint, and she took a step towards the body.

"Gloria, don't," Carlton commanded forcefully and placed his hand on her arm.

She tried to fight his grip, but he wrapped her up in his arms, forcing her to look away. As she struggled, he held her tighter and whispered, "Just don't look, you don't want this image in your head."

"She, she can't breathe," was all Gloria managed before she stopped resisting.

"I know," he whispered back, and led her far from the scene with no opposition.

Juliet stared after her partner, too shocked by the act of compassion she had just seen. She turned to Shawn and Gus for an explanation. Shawn was too busy staring at the dead woman for clues, and Gus was too busy _not_ staring at the dead woman to give Juliet much noticed.

Shawn did notice though when Carlton stormed up to him, grabbed his shirt and pinned him against a tree.

"What the hell were you thinking bringing her to a crime scene?" Carlton yelled. "Exposing her to a dead body."

"At the time Lassie, I didn't know there was a dead body here, neither did you," Shawn defended.

"Don't give me that crap! If you ever take Gloria out of the office without my permission again, I will kill you," Carlton warned, and then released Shawn.

Shawn straightened himself out and then asked innocently, "What about for pineapple topped pizza?"

Carlton balled his hand into a fist and swung.

* * *

who wouldn't want to go out for pineapple topped pizza? 


	4. Uneasy Dinner Conversation

** A/N:** all right, I didn't mean to leave you all hanging, it's just I spent like five days down in South Carolina and didn't have my computer. what i do have now is diabetes from all the sweet tea... god, sweet tea is so good, but so sugary! so here you go, another chapter!

* * *

"So, you have a niece?" Juliet questioned on the ride back to the station.

Before that there had just been quiet tension. No one seemed to really question why Carlton had hit Shawn. They expected it had something to do with his separation from the wife mixed with the fact he never like Shawn to begin with and that he obviously had some connection with Gloria. Everyone just knew not to ask Carlton personal questions, except maybe Juliet.

"Yes," he answered through gritted teeth.

"And you are letting her work at Psych?" Juliet asked, bewildered.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I thought she needed to learn some responsibility," he explained unenthusiastically.

"From Shawn and Gus?"

"Not a better decision of mine," he offered and did not say anymore.

Shawn leaned back in his chair, holding a bag of ice to his bruising cheek and kept touching his lip where Carlton's fist cut it, wincing. Gus was in a huff, and grabbed his jacket.

"I'm going to my other job Shawn," he cried. "And don't try to call me back for the rest of the day. I'm going to stay at my other job, and you want to know why? There's no dead bodies at my other job!"

Then Gus stormed off, leaving a wounded Shawn and Gloria lying on the couch, staring at the ceiling, yet to say a word.

Shawn took a break from nursing his wound to peer over at Gloria. She just stared at ceiling, looking incoherent to the world. He put down the ice and brought his chair over to the couch. She didn't notice.

"Gloria," he whispered softly and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She reacted violently to his touch. Shawn pulled away and said, "Gloria, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you."

"He must have been the last thing she saw," she replied slowly.

Shawn nodded. "Probably."

She turned her head towards him. "It wasn't the dead body that freaked me out."

"It wasn't?"

"It was the fact he strangled and raped her."

"Still, I'm sorry you had to see that," Shawn apologized.

"Did it look like she fought back?"

He shook his head.

"She might have been high," Gloria offered.

"What?"

"If she had been high it might have been harder for her to fight back, you know," she replied.

"No I don't."

"Her mind would have been off on twenty different thought paths, so she couldn't figure out how to fight back, her arms would have moved too slow to do any damage if she did manage hit him, and not matter how hard she tried her legs and her feet would just tingle and not move."

He looked at her and asked quietly, "You get high often?"

"Not for five weeks."

"What made you quit?"

"I lost complete control one night and it scared me enough to stop smoking," she answered.

"What happened?"

She just shook her head and went back to staring at the ceiling. Shawn, in an uncharacteristic act, let the conversation die.

Carlton had not been able to focus the rest of the day. His mind drifted off to Gloria. He had never meant for her to be exposed to murder. Guilt was turning his stomach into knots.

He took the day off early, and headed over to the Psych office. He walked in to see Gloria still lying on the couch and Shawn was back to nursing his wounds. Shawn glanced up when he heard Carlton enter and then groan. "What, you here to hit me again? Give me a matching bruise on the other side?"

"Only if you keep talking," he warned, and then made his way to Gloria. He bent down next to her and said, "Gloria, come on, I'll take you to dinner."

She glanced at him and nodded. As she got up and made her way to the door, she said quietly, "Bye Shawn, see you Monday."

"Bye Gloria," he replied, causing Carlton to glare at him fiercely.

Gloria was picking at her salad as Carlton glanced around the restaurant, unsure of what to say. Finally, Gloria asked a question that had been on her mind all day. "How long does it take for someone to die from being strangled?"

He shook his head, and replied, "I'm not going to tell you that. That's something you shouldn't know."

"But I want to know."

"You shouldn't have been there today, Spencer should have never brought you."

"He knows that, he apologized already," she told Carlton. "And I just want to know how long does someone last when they are being strangled."

He glanced at her face, and noticed how serious she looked. He sighed and answered, "It depends how hard the person is being strangled. If there is a lot of pressure then it goes quickly, a couple minutes."

"Does it hurt a lot?"

He didn't want to tell her, but something in her eyes made it clear she wasn't going to stop asking till she knew. "It probably does hurt, but from the lack of oxygen the victim passes out after a minute or so."

"I think it would hurt more to be strangled with less pressure," she explained. "Then you have to stay awake and see him. You have to watch."

His blood turned to ice as soon as she said that. A chill went down his spine and he asked, "Gloria, has someone hurt you?"

"No," she replied quickly. "But I know people who have been, and it doesn't take much imagination to understand their pain."

"Gloria, if you or any of your friends ever need help, you know you can call me, right?" he told her.

"Yeah, because you've been such a strong influence in my life for the past six years," she muttered.

"Why are you so angry? Are you suicidal?"

She laughed at him. "There's lots of ways to be suicidal, Uncle Carl."

"What do you mean?"

"I think you're more suicidal then I am," she replied.

"I am not suicidal," he stated firmly.

"You willingly took a job with high risk of death, where you'll get shot at and your life is constantly threaten, if that's not suicidal, then I don't know what is."

He was shocked to see how her logic worked out and made sense. "Okay, fine, but I didn't ask if you thought I was suicidal, I asked if you were."

"I'm reckless. I drive too fast. I don't think about the consequences and when I do, I don't care about them. Do I sound suicidal?"

"You sound some degree of suicidal," he replied.

She was tempted to stand up and walk away. She was used to being overlooked, by the school systems, by her mother, so she was not sure how to react when someone finally gave a damn. And now she could not decide if she wanted someone to give a damn. It actually scared her a little bit, having someone who cared enough about her to call her on her shit.

"I think I sound like a teenager, and all teenagers are a tad bit suicidal," she tried to play it off, "but not everyone of them commits suicide. And trust me Uncle Carl, you never have to worry about me slitting my wrist, popping too many pills or swinging by my neck."

"Good." He paused and then joked, "You know if I did I would kill you, right?"

She rolled her eyes at his bad joke, but could not resist smiling. He took a bite of his dinner and asked, "So, do you have any plans for the weekend?"

"Nope, just going to hang around the house," Gloria answered as she looked down at her forkful of food.

There was no need for Gloria Montgomery to show her ID, the bouncer knew her face and besides, she had a back stage pass. The bouncer wasn't the traditional bouncer. He was not obviously buff, his arm muscles were not as wide as his head like the bouncers seen at other clubs. He was dressed with studded black pants, decorated with skulls and chains and unnecessary zippers, a shirt with skeletons and blood drawn on it, and he had chosen to accessorize with spikes. He didn't need the flashy muscles to be intimidating, his outfits did that for him.

The bouncer was the just the tip of the iceberg. As Gloria made her way through the club she saw the usually crowd. Rockers, Punks, Goths all mingled together in a blur of black clothes, dark eye shadow, pale foundation, and over done hair. This was their sanctuary, no one would torture anyone of them here. It was that feeling of safety that kept Gloria coming back.

A hand wrapped around Gloria's wrist, and she ripped it away without looking first to see who touch her. It was Jeff Burrol, dressed ready to rock out the show. He gave her an annoyed glance and asked, "Gloria, where have you been? It's about time you showed up."

"Sorry, got caught up with my community service," she explained.

"All right, come on, we're running out of time. Your makeup will have to be a rush job," he said as he made his way through the crowd. She followed him closely, even when he peered over his shoulder and asked, "I managed to score some acid, you want some?"

"What do you think dumbass?" she retorted angrily, but still followed him.


	5. A Bus Ride and Birthday Talks

Monday morning rolled around and Gloria found herself with a sore throat and a voiced that cracked every time she tried to speak. She glanced over at the round clock hanging on her kitchen wall. She had to leave soon or else she would miss the bus. She quickly made herself some tea via microwave and bolted out the door.

As the jerking bus made its way slowly through the city, Gloria became aware that someone was staring at her. She casually glanced around the bus to discover who was making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. It was coming from a boy in the back. He was a few years older then Gloria, with blonde hair tousled from a rough night of activity. He seemed ready to sleep, and despite the bus's constant rocking back and forth movement he managed to keep his dark eyes focused on her.

She quickly tore her eyes away, hoping he did not notice she had been staring back. He had noticed.

He slowly made his way over, and out of the corner of her eye, Gloria watched every step. She repositioned herself, ready to run as the boy with the baggy pants and black large sweatshirt got closer.

He stood a few feet from her and asked, "You look familiar, do I know you?"

She looked up quickly and then shook her head.

"No, no, I do know you. I've seen you at the club," he told her, taking a seat directly across from her.

"What club?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"That rock club. You look like that chick," he explained, shaking a finger at her.

"I don't go to rock clubs and your use of specifics is astonishing," she snapped at him.

"No, you're her."

"I think I would know who I am," she retorted and looked away, trying to end this conversation.

He leaned closer to her and asked, "Can I see your belly?"

She glared at him, but thankfully the bus stopped and she stormed off, four stops before hers.

Gloria slammed the door to the Psych office behind her, angry with that creep on the bus. She was now twenty minutes late, and was sure she was going to get in trouble. Well Shawn probably would not have cared too much, but she was sure Gus would. And with her luck, Gus happened to be the only one in the office this Monday morning.

The two adversaries stared at each other in a showdownesque way. Finally Gloria shrugged and croaked out in her weaken voiced, "Sorry I'm late."

"Shawn's late too," Gus told her.

"So what do we do now?" He shrugged in response. She sighed and asked, "Wanna play video games?"

Somewhere between 'Mario Smash Brothers' and 'Halo' Gus and Gloria had gotten into an actual conversation. What was even more surprising to Gus was the topic landed on the stock market and the United States overall economic situation. She had surprised him by actually knowing what the DOW Jones stock was and why people were wary about who intended on buying it.

"So basically if Rupert Murdoch buys DOW Jones & Company, censorship will go through the roof," she told him.

"He's not going to censor everything," Gus objected.

"Yeah, but with him controlling 'The Wall Street Journal' too, that means even more of the media will aimed at whatever basis he wants," she clarified. "It's censorship by monopoly."

"You're one of those people who believe the government is out to get you, aren't you?"

"You're one of those people who believe everything the government says, aren't you? And I don't believe the government is out to get me, just that it fails some people and lies, often," she explained.

"That sounds like a level of paranoia," he stated.

"Paranoia, preparedness, realism, same thing," she replied, as he shot down and killed her 'Halo' player for good. She sighed in frustration and asked, "So, you wanna know what I did to get arrested?"

He put down the controller and focused all his attention on her. "Oh hell yes."

"It's not interesting," she told him.

"I don't care, tell me."

She took a deep breath and began, "I was at a club one night and got a ride home from these three guys I know, Jeff, Dylan and Rob. After the club they wanted to stop at a bar, they're all over twenty-one and I didn't care, so we stopped. I'm sitting with Jeff while Dylan and Rob are off getting into some argument with a group of other guys. I assume it started off with one of the guys saying something about 'Guns 'N Roses'. Dylan is surprisingly sensitive about that band.

"Anyways, their argument turns violent. Jeff and I just sit there watching, mainly because Jeff is a wimp and I found it entertaining to watch them get their ass handed to them. Of course, push comes to shove and Jeff jumps in the fight to help out our guys since they were really, really getting their ass kicked. I kept out of it since it was still amusing to watch, on my part and not my fight. However, the fight got dirty and Jeff was being choked, so I jumped in to pull the guy off him. Then the cops came in out of nowhere and arrested all of us for disorderly conduct and I got an assault charge added on since the police came in right as I punched the guy who was choking Jeff and knocked him unconscious."

Gus nodded, and leaned back, trying to picture Gloria at a bar, jumping in on a fight and knocking someone unconscious. The picture came surprisingly easily. Gloria with her rock concert shirts, her punky attitude and her mouth that never stops, both a good and bad thing; yes, Gus could see her in a bar fight.

"Wow, you're right, that's not interesting," he told her after a moment with a smile.

She smiled back and replied, "See, the whole liberation of lobsters thing was so much cooler."

Shawn entered his office to find Gus and Gloria laughing on the couch. He raised an eyebrow at the unexpected sight, and announced, "Well, look at what we have here. I was convinced I'd walk in and find you two in a showdown, with tumbleweed rolling in the background as Gus does a bad John Wayne impersonation saying, 'This office ain't big enough for the two of us.'"

"First off Shawn, I would not do a John Wayne impersonation," Gus told him angrily. "Besides, you're late."

"Oh, you two don't seem to have minded," Shawn said, shrugging it off, sitting down at his desk.

Gloria made her way to his desk, asking, "So, how's the case going?"

"I don't think Lassiter would want me talking to you about that," Shawn told her.

"You always do what Uncle Lassie says?" she taunted, grinning.

"Hardly ever," he replied, smiling at her as she leaned against his desk.

"So, you got any leads?" she asked.

"Well, the police were leaning towards the drug dealer, but he has an alibi."

"What about her smoker friends?"

"Smoker friends?" Gus questioned, almost forgotten in the background.

"Friends our victim smoked with you silly goose," Shawn told him and then leaned in towards Gloria and asked, "So how do we know which friends are smoker friends?"

She smirked at the attention and requested, "Give me your hand."

He obliged, and she ran his finger over her thumb. He felt a small little bump.

"You feel that? I call that a smoker's bump. It's from when I used smoke and hold the lighter too long and it would burn me. At first, this bump would go away after a week or so if I managed not to burn myself again, but then it just didn't go away. I'm hoping since I stopped smoking it will eventually go away."

He lifted her thumb to his lips and kissed it gently. "There, all better."

She giggled softly and smiled at him. He smiled back and asked, "Just out of curiosity, how many days till you turn eighteen?"

"Two," she said with such precision in her inflection, the way she parted her lips as she spoke, and the timing of batting her eyelashes that Shawn knew where this kind of flirting could lead. Part of him was ready to let it go there, but Gus, for a moment forgotten, clearing his throat brought Shawn back into focus.

"All right, back to the case, so for smoker friends I should look for anyone with a smoker's bump," he clarified.

She nodded, and added, "Also, if during your 'psychic' read you hear Bob Marley or Dave Matthews Band, they smoke."

"All right, thanks, we'll run this by the police," Gus said quickly and headed towards the door. When he saw Shawn was still seated, still grinning at Gloria, he snapped, "All right Shawn, let's go."

"You can go ahead, I've got a few more questions for Gloria," he stated.

"Shawn!"

He crumbled. "Okay, I guess they can wait a day."

"Or two," she teased.

He smirked at her joke and followed Gus towards the door, but he could not leave without getting the final word in. "You can just wander around the office, file some things, but stay out of my bottom left hand draw."

As soon as the door to the Psych office was shut and Shawn was outside, Gus went off.

"What the hell are you thinking Shawn? She's not even eighteen yet and you're hitting on her!"

"Oh come on, it's just two days and she was hitting on me first," Shawn defended.

"No Shawn! It does not matter it's just two days, what matters is she's _Lassiter's_ niece! If he punched you for taking her out of the office, what do you think he will do to you if he finds out you're hitting on her?" Gus inquired, angry and frustrated with Shawn's inability to focus on the consequences.

"Well, I'm not going to tell him, are you?"

"Yeah, right after I tell him you aren't a real psychic, at least if I'm in prison I don't have to worry about him killing me for not controlling _your_ animal instincts."

Shawn Spencer and Gus made their way through the police station, stopping occasionally to chat it up with some friendly police officers before they arrived at Detective Carlton Lassiter's desk. For once though, said detective did not appear as annoyed as usual to see the two troublemakers.

In fact, Carlton had been waiting for them all day. He knew they would show up since Shawn was convinced the drug dealer was not the killer, and when Shawn was convinced the police had the wrong guy he would get a "vision" to prove the police's suspect innocence. And right on cue Shawn and Gus entered the police station.

As they made their way towards Carlton, he took a deep breath and tried to prepare himself for the upcoming conversation.

"Why hello Lassieface," Shawn greeted happily.

Gus shifted uncomfortably, still uneasy about what happened this morning, and nodded his hello to the detective. Carlton barely acknowledged this and responded to Shawn's greeting. "Good morning Spencer."

Shawn and Gus stared at him, shocked by his kindness. Carlton saw their confused faces and had to suppress a smirk. "What can I help you with?"

"Uh, well, Shawn was getting his prevision sense and we decided to come in to the station incase the spirits start to open up," Gus explained.

"He gets prevision senses?"

"Yes how else do you think I'm able to time out my visions to have them when they are most helpful," Shawn clarified.

"Maybe because you're faking," Carlton mumbled and then added, "or because you're just that good."

"Gus, a word," Shawn cried with panic and the two turned their backs on Carlton. In hushed voice Shawn asked, "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know," Gus replied. "Why do you think he is asking so nice towards us?"

"I don't know, do you think he switched his medicine or something? Gus, is there any medication that could make him act like this? Mood alternators or something?"

"I guess he could be on mood alternators, I doubt it though. Maybe we should just take advantage of his good mood while we can," Gus answered.

"Good plan," Shawn praised and then turned back to Carlton. "Yes, I'm sensing a vision soon, very soon."

They could tell Carlton was holding back a sneer, so Shawn hurried up and started his vision. His hand flew up to his temple and he cried, "Oh boy!"

"What is it Shawn?" Gus asked, after his cue.

"I'm, I'm smelling," he began coughing heavily. "Smoke and lots of it. I see our victim, sitting in a circle with her friends, but wait!"

He looked down at his hands and made a face of disgust.

"Ew," he squealed and began wiping his hands on Carlton's shirt, trying to get something unseen off his hand. Carlton glared at him and Shawn wrapped it up. "There's blood on one of her friends hands. Hey Lassie, when you interviewed the victim's friend, did any of them seem suspicious?"

"Most of them did," he answered, and then tried to smile at them. The smile just made Shawn and Gus feel uneasy. "Speaking of suspicious, I've got a question about Gloria."

Both Shawn and Gus knew this couldn't be good. Gus nodded though, to show they followed him. Carlton continued, "Gloria and I don't have the best relationship."

Together Shawn and Gus mockingly appeared shocked and aghast. "No, really? We thought yelling at each other was your way to say I love you," Shawn explained.

"Anyway Spencer," Carlton could not hold back his sneer anymore, "seeing how Gloria is probably more likely to discuss things with you, for some reason, and I just want you to tell me what kind of trouble she's in."

"You want us to spy for you?" Gus clarified.

"Forget it, we don't spy unless we get a cool watch that can double as a transmitter or shock people," Shawn told him.

Carlton groaned and snapped, "Listen, last time I saw Gloria she was a sweet, well adjusted twelve year old who was happy. Now she's this angry seventeen going on thirty-five year old, who already managed to get herself arrested. And I just want to know what trouble she's in, so I can help her."

Shawn sighed, he knew Carlton really did just want to help his niece, but Carlton would need some help to do that. "First off Lassie, Gloria would resent you if you spy on her and not appreciate the help you try and give her. Second, try just talking to her and see what's been happening for the last six years. Got it?"

Begrudgingly, Carlton nodded. Shawn continued, "Now, I have a question about Gloria too. For her birthday I want to do something special, so I'm asking if we can take her out of the office?"

Carlton had to think about this. He was not sure if he could trust Shawn with his niece, but she did deserve to have a little fun on her birthday. Still, it was Shawn; there was a good chance someone could get arrested. Finally Carlton sighed and replied very stern, "All right, but nothing illegal, no strip bars, no tattoos and no going to Mexico."

"Well, you just ruled out all my plans except sky diving," Shawn explained.

"Spencer…" Carlton warned and Shawn and Gus bolted out of the station.

"You had plans for Gloria's birthday?" Gus asked, once safely away from the angry detective.

"No, but I'll figure something out," Shawn told him. "Besides, I planned your eighteenth birthday extravaganza last minute and it turned out fine."

"Shawn, I woke up in another state, handcuffed to a hospital bed," Gus cried.

"Yeah, but we found out later that the handcuffs weren't the police, they belong to the dominatrix. Besides, you had fun right?" Shawn justified.

Gus paused for a minute before grinning wide. "Oh hell yeah I did."

all right, so I'm using an apple computer right now and this is the first time I've submitted anything using my apple computer, so I hope this worked out. also, I would have updated soon but I was using my really old computer to write fanfic and then I went and broke the screen and I lost all my stories... all of them and I already had a couple chapters of this story written, so now I got to rewrite it all. it's gonna take a little time so please be patient. and thanks for readng! 


	6. Killer Fly

Gloria fiddled around the office, after filing away all the loose papers and sorted anything else out of place. She was now bored and kept staring at Shawn's bottom left hand draw. She kept assuring herself that it was probably nothing, Shawn just said to stay out of it to peak her interest. It worked though, which is the sad part.

She now was struggling with the draw, trying to pick the lock with a paper clip that kept bending uselessly. Sighing in frustration, she began looking through the desk for something better, not hearing the door open.

"Hello, anybody here?" a female voice called out.

"Um, the psychic and his partner aren't in right now," Gloria told the voice, still under the desk. She stood up and picked up a pad of paper. "I can take a message, if you like."

She looked up and saw the blonde woman from the crime scene the other day. "Oh, you, Jules, right?"

"Juliet O'Hara, I work with your Uncle," Juliet told her with a smile.

"Great, you and all the other cops in Santa Barbara," Gloria muttered and turned her attention back to the draw. She kicked it, hoping that might help loosen it up.

"Gloria right?"

"Yup." She kicked the draw again and turned her attention back to the perky blonde woman. "Do you have a bobby pin?"

"Huh?"

"Bobby pin, you look like a cheerleader and cheerleaders use bobby pin," Gloria told her.

"Don't you use them?"

Gloria stopped and stared at Juliet. "You're serious? Do I look like someone who uses bobby pins?"

Juliet stared at Gloria, noticing her broken in Vans, dark tight jeans, studded black belt, a purple band shirt that read 'I am the Avalanche' with a dancing skeleton and dark black hair styled like a rock star.

"No, you look more like the gel and hairspray to keep your hair in place kind of girl," Juliet told her and fished a bobby pin out of her hair. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Gloria replied, noticing her growing smile. She bent down and started picking at the lock.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Juliet asked, leaning over the desk to get a better look.

Gloria glanced up at her and asked, "You come from a big family, don't you?"

"Yeah four brothers, how you'd you know?"

"You're perkiness, and eagerness to be friendly towards people right off the bat, shows you have experience with being around a lot of people. Also, I bet you where one of the younger ones in the family since you're curious enough to ask what I was doing," Gloria explained. "I bet you were always trying to but in on your brothers."

"Yeah, and I bet you got an A in psychology," Juliet praised, while Gloria just rolled her eyes.

"Uh, was there something I could help you with?" Gloria asked, right as she opened the draw. She smirked and pulled out a bag of food.

"What is that?"

"Shawn's stash, dried pineapple," Gloria answered and the held the bag out. "Want some?"

Juliet looked at it skeptically and then reached out her hand. "Sure."

Gloria grabbed some for herself and then glanced around the office. "I'm thinking about hiding this somewhere in the office. Any suggestions?"

Juliet glanced around, but just shrugged. "Listen, Shawn and Gus stopped by the police station earlier asking about the victim's friend and they left before they could get the list of the ones we found suspicious."

"I'm sure the boys figured something out," Gloria assured her.

"Well, here's the list incase they need it," Juliet told her, hand her a piece of paper.

Gloria glanced down at the list. A few named were stared, and she recognized a couple names and could not stop herself from repeating one stared name in particular. "Bobby Claussier?"

"You know him?" Juliet asked, surprised and wary of Gloria now.

Gloria laughed nervously and answered, "You don't have to tell my uncle that. He's just a friend of a friend of a friend, honestly. I met Bobby twice, really."

"How would someone like you even meet someone like Bobby Claussier?" Juliet inquired.

"Do I look like a girl scout?" Gloria snapped. "There is one rock club in this city, I can't help who hangs out there."

"There's a rock club?" Gloria was surprised to hear a hint of happiness in Juliet's voice when she asked that.

"Yes, and you don't have to tell my uncle I've been there, got it?"

Juliet frowned, unsure if she should agree but then Gloria smiled ever so sweetly at her, and Juliet just could not help but nod. "Sure, our little secret, between us girls."

Gloria kept a smile on her face even though she hated sayings like "between us girls" and just Juliet over all was annoying her, way to preppy for Gloria's darker taste. Yet, she still smiled since she did not want her uncle finding out about her nightlife, that was best kept a secret.

"Well thanks so much Juliet, I'll make sure Shawn and Gus get the list."

"Thanks, I better get heading back to station before my lunch break runs out," Juliet told her. "It was nice talking to you."

"Yeah, you too, bye," Gloria replied, still forcing a smile. Once Juliet left, Gloria let out a sigh and went back to figure out where to hide the dried pineapple.

Gus came in the office about two hours later, looking rather unhappy. Gloria grinned at Grumpy Gus, a name she picked up from Shawn and asked, "Things not go well?"

"Oh just wait," Gus told her and stared at the door.

She turned to her attention to the door, just in time to see Shawn behind a young man in his twenties, who looked completely out of it. Shawn's hands were on the young man's shoulders, guiding him in the office. The young man's body was pretty much putty, he was too unaware of his surrounds to put up a fight.

"You brought a suspect back to the office? Is that normal procedure?" Gloria asked.

"No, Shawn just wanted to wait out what ever this guy is on, and decided he would be more comfortable here," Gus told her.

"Well that's jus dumb," Gloria exclaimed.

"I know, we shouldn't have brought him back here," Gus agreed.

"No, don't wait it out, ask him now while he's more likely to tell you the truth," she corrected.

"We tried," Shawn said, "but all we got were rambles."

"I just so happen to be fluent in high rambles, let me decipher them," she offered.

"Go for it," Shawn told her as he sat the high man down on the couch.

Gloria came up to the couch, and smile slightly. He looked up at her, confusion etched in his face. He slowly lifted his arm and pointed his finger at her. Confusion left his face, replaced by a smile. He said softly, "Gloria, I wanna see more of ya."

"That's right Joey, good job," she praised.

"You know him?" Gus asked, shocked.

"He's a friend of a friend, of a friend," she answered. "You know, this isn't that big of a city, I don't know why it's so shocking I know people."

"All right ask him what happen the night Sarah Cohen died," Shawn told her.

"Hey Joey, you smoke with a Sarah Cohen?"

"Yeah, her and couple other people a few times. She giggled."

"Whom else did you smoke with?"

Joey groaned and stated, "A monkey, turtle, and giraffe."

"What does that mean?" Gus asked, irritated.

Joey paused and stared at Gloria for a while. "You're a hippo, you know, all mysterious, submerged in the water, floating down the Nile."

She grinned at him and answered Gus's question. "Sometimes when people get high, they get all soulful, and apparently Joey sees people souls as animals. Or, he could have subconsciously remembered that I told him my favorite animal is a hippo."

"There was also a fly," Joey told her.

She nodded and asked, "Joey, did you ever try to hook up with Sarah?"

"No, but the fly did, the fly really wanted her," Joey replied.

"Did the fly hurt her?"

"I think so," he replied. "She left and then the fly followed."

Shawn and Gus brightened up at this, and Shawn asked, "Who is the fly?"

Joey groaned in concentration and grabbed his head. Gloria looked concern and reached out her hand, fighting something in herself that kept her from patting his back and comforting him. She wanted to comfort him, Joey was a decent guy, but she just could not bring herself to make physical contact. Her hand dropped back to her side, but she said soothingly, "Joey, it's okay, just tell me why you see this man as a fly."

He nodded and thought for a moment. Then he brought his hands up to his eyes, first they were in fist and then he expanded them, and then repeated the process over again.

"Huh?" Shawn asked.

"Now you know how ridiculous you look during you visions," Gus told him.

Gloria had been ignoring them, staring at what Joey was doing. "Eyes, exploding eyes? Round eyes? Bug-eyed!"

"Yes, Bug-eyed Bobby, that's who followed Sarah," he exclaimed.

"Who's Bug-eyed Bobby?" Shawn asked.

"A drug dealer," Gloria answered.

Joey leaned in towards Gloria and whispered in her ear, "He said if you weren't so freakishly mutilated he would like you too."

"The bastard said what?"

"What did the bastard say?" Shawn asked concerned, not hearing what Joey whispered in his ear.

"Nothing," Gloria answered quickly.

"Glor, I'm tired, can I sleep here?" Joey asked, pawing at her arm.

"Um…" She glanced over at Shawn and Gus, with a pleading look. Gus shook his head and mouthed the words no way to Shawn. She turned her gaze to Shawn, silently begging. He nodded.

"Sure Joe, you can sleep it off here," she told him.

"Hey Gloria, sign me a songa."

"Sure, what song?"

"You know anything from 'Guns 'N Roses'?" he requested.

"I'm friends with Dylan, what do you think? 'Sweet Child o' Mine' okay?"

He mumbled his compliance and she began signing softly, "_She's got a smile that it seems to me, Reminds me of childhood memories, Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky. Now and then when I see her face, She takes me away to that special place, And if I stare too long I'd probably break down and cry. Whoa, whoooaa. Sweet child o' mine._"

She stopped singing after she heard the steady breathing of the drug user next to her. She glanced over at Shawn and Gus. Gus was still pouting about not being listened to, while Shawn smiled at her and gave her a small silent gulf clap. She smiled at him and got up off the couch.

"I can't believe you're letting a junkie stay here," hissed Gus.

"He's not dangerous," she told him quietly.

"Tell that to Sarah Cohen," he retorted.

"He didn't attack Sarah Cohen, Bobby Claussier did," she defended.

"How do you know his last name?" Shawn asked quietly.

Gloria walked over to his desk and grabbed the paper she obtained earlier. "Juliet left this for you, and looked whose name is stared."

Shawn glanced at the paper and noticed she was right, Bobby Claussier's name was stared. "Still, how do you know Bug-eyed Bobby?"

Gloria sighed and whispered, "Through a friend of a friend-"

"Of a friend," Shawn finished for her.

"What kind of people do you hang out with?" Gus questioned.

"Sorry if I'm not on the straight and narrow path," she snapped at him. Shawn noticed the anger in her voice, and he wanted to keep her temper in control.

"Gus, if you're uncomfortable with Joey here, you can leave," Shawn told his friend, stepping between the two. "I'm sure you've got loads of exciting paperwork at your other job."

"Shawn, are you trying to hint at something?" Gus questioned, sounding angry and stepping up to Shawn.

"Bobby goes to the same club I do," Gloria stated suddenly, wanting to avoid a fight. They stared at her, not because what she said was shocking, just the outburst was unexpected.

"Go on," Gus coaxed.

"My friend Jeff bought some acid from him, that's how I know him since I was with Jeff. Jeff and Bobby kept doing business and I would run into him at the club. I didn't touch the stuff, but Bobby told me if I ever needed to score some, just give him a call. I'm not proud to know an acid dealer, okay?"

An awkward silence fell across the room.

"You know, I think I do have some paperwork to finish up," Gus said, trying to dissolve the uneasy tension and headed towards the door. He paused and glanced back at Gloria and Shawn. He tried to smile and told her, "Hey Gloria, ask Shawn about who he took to our homecoming sophomore year."

With that he left, and Gloria gave a curious look to Shawn. He groaned, "I had hoped he forgot that."

"What?"

"I dated Sybil for a little bit back in my sophomore year," he told her.

"Sybil…" Shawn suddenly felt dated realizing she was too young to know about Sybil. "Oh, she was the one with the multi-personality disorder with like fourteen personalities."

He smiled at her. "Yeah, but this girl had eighteen, and trust me, drug addict was one of them. In fact, drugs probably caused a couple of her personalities. I liked about twelve of her personalities, so we stayed together for almost five months."

"Why?"

Shawn shrugged. "She annoyed my dad, but it got to the point I didn't want to be associated with her since she was completely crazy."

She smiled at him and whispered, "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Telling me that, and letting Joey stay here. Really, all he needs to do is sleep it off and he'll be fine."

"No problem, you help figure out who killer fly was," Shawn told her. "Plus, I got a song out of it. You sign pretty well."

She blushed and smiled. "Thanks, but that was just to calm him down."

"You know something tells me you don't limit you singing to just claming down friends who are tripping," Shawn theorized. "And I thought you weren't in a band."

"I'm not so much in the band, as I sing when they ask me to. Mostly it debuts or background singing, nothing major. I'm not even on stage that much," she explained, smiling shyly.

"I'm sure you're great when you are on stage," he replied, taking a step towards her.

"I think you're just saying that for a very inappropriate reason," she inferred, closing the gap between them.

"Now what inappropriate reason would that be, Gloria?"

They were so close, but they both heard the car door open.

"That would be my uncle."

"You better met him outside, he'll flip if he sees you in the same room as one of his suspects."

She nodded and headed towards the door. She gave one last glance at her passed out friend. She looked back at Shawn and began digging through her pockets. "Can you make sure he gets on a bus to where ever he needs to go? I can give you some bus fare."

"Gloria, I can manage bus fare, now go before you uncle sees who's here and hits me again."

"Thanks," she cried before running out the door to stop her uncle from entering.

Shawn sighed, and sat down at his desk, thinking about Gloria's birthday. Soon Joey was awake, and only slightly more aware of his surroundings.

"Hey Joe," Shawn cried, baffling a dazed and confused man, "what club does Gloria sing at?"

A/N: next chapter her birthday, chapter after that still her birthday, chapter after that it turns dark! and college is great, you should all go! 


	7. Master Shawn's Flop

Gloria woke up on her birthday, and everything that happened the day before flashed through her mind. She had gone to work, flirted shamelessly with Shawn, got into yet another fight with Gus, this time about the Republican candidates for president, she was starting to think Gus liked to pick a fight with her just to have an intelligent conversation. The day had gone smoothly. Shawn and Gus got a case of "is my boyfriend cheating" in the morning, and solved it before lunch.

Lunch, that was fun for Gloria. Gus and Shawn failed to make a decision between Chinese or pizza, so they compromised. Shawn made Gloria call both a pizza and Chinese place to see if they were willing to make a pizza topped with chicken lo mien. The pizza place yelled at her for prank calling, but surprisingly enough the Chinese place was willing to comply. What was not surprising was the Chinese pizza was disgusting.

After lunch Gus and Shawn went over to the police station to have a vision about Bug-eyed Bobby. It must have gone well, they were back in a few hours, and Shawn had that air of smugness Gloria found attractive for some bizarre reason. So a little bit more flirting and then it was time for her to leave.

What she had not expected to happen yesterday was her uncle, along with what looked like all of the Santa Barbara's police force, showing up at her club to arrest Bobby Claussier. They all stormed in, scaring the crap out of the people in the club who had drugs, selling drugs or on drugs. The percent of drug usage at small, local concerts for unknown bands was pretty low. There was no denying drugs were present, just they did not play as big role as society painted the picture of them to be.

Still, all those cops scared a lot of people. Gloria was one of them, yet not because of drugs. Once she saw her uncle, she tried her best to casually make her way towards the exit without being noticed. She was spotted though by Juliet O'Hara.

Gloria knew she was seen, their gazed had locked too long for Juliet not to notice. Panic rose in Gloria's body, enough to force her to do the unthinkable. She dove on the floor, hidden by bodies and legs. This was a last resort, if only for she would easily be trampled and without a doubt be stepped on. Also, the floor was disgusting. It hardly got cleaned and when it did, the cleaning was never a thorough job. There was spit, sweat, dirt and probably even blood, amongst other revolting things, on this floor that she was laying on. It brought a wave of nausea to Gloria, thinking about it, but she would pick it over being seen by her Uncle Carl.

Gloria sighed, now safe in her bed, eighteen years old. Smiling at that thought, she rolled out of bed.

Gloria strolled in the office, grinning. Shawn had told her to come prepared for anything, and her backpack was full with whatever she thought she might need.

Shawn was already in the office, leaning back in his chair. He smirked at her and commented, "You know, I always felt that secretaries should be in the office before their bosses, even if their boss decides to come in early. That secretaries should have a six sense about it and come in early too."

"Oh, I think can cut me some slack today," she replied.

"Really, why would I do that?" he asked, his smirk growing wider as she made her way slowly to his desk.

"Maybe since it has to do with the fact I'm finally legal today," she stated. She knew Shawn had been looking forward to this day, she saw the look in his eyes and she knew that look.

"No, that couldn't be today, I would have remembered if it was your birthday, I think you're just lying so you won't get in trouble."

"You're the psychic, shouldn't you know if I'm lying?" she questioned, enjoying this little game.

"Well, someone's certainly testy this morning, did you not get your birthday spankings?"

"Not yet, care to help with that?"

Gus coughed loudly from behind her. She turned, grinning at him. "Good morning Gus."

"Happy birthday Gloria," he greeted.

"Okay, I guess I believe it's your birthday if Gus says so," Shawn told her.

"Gee, thanks. So, what do you have planned for my birthday?" she asked.

Gus and Shawn shared a look. "Uh, nothing."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's your birthday, but it's also a workday," Gus explained.

"We don't want you to be distracted from your work," Shawn added.

"Seriously? Why did you tell me to come prepared for anything then?"

"Well you should always be prepared," Gus quipped.

"Didn't the girl scouts teach you that? 'Sides, what if I decide to reenact a scene from 'Twister'? You need to be prepared for that," Shawn replied.

"He's done it before," Gus chimed in.

They smiled at her confusion before finally cracking.

"You got a bathing suit in that bag?" Shawn asked, grinning at her.

She nodded. "Great, first thing on the agenda today is skimboarding. Now go get changed."

Gloria hurried off to the bathroom, leaving Gus and Shawn alone to discuss.

"Skimboarding, huh?" Gus questioned suspiciously.

"Yes, it's a fun activity that involves a small wooden board and waves. Even though it doesn't hold a candle to pineapple juggling, it's still a fun sport," Shawn explained, ignoring the unasked question.

"But it will involve a certain _detective's_ niece in a bikini," Gus accused.

Gloria came out of the bathroom, hearing Gus's last statement. She smirked to herself, and glanced down at her bathing suit. She had a plain dark blue bathing suit bottom, and her dark blue top was of no concern since she covered up her torso with a blue and white surfer shirt. If Shawn was looking forward to seeing her in a bikini he would be disappointed.

"Okay, I'm ready," she said, bringing their attention on her.

Shawn eyes ran over her body. He was slightly sad that she was not wearing just a bikini, but that surfer shirt was very formfitting. His eyes rolled down her legs, wonderfully toned and longer then her jeans let on. He smiled at her and responded, "Great, let's get to the beach.

"Oh, you mean the thing that's fifty feet away? Yeah, that's gonna be a long drive."

"Stop being a smart ass and get out the door," Shawn told her, grabbing the office's skimboard.

The sand was warm and felt good between Gloria's toes. The sea air hit her face, and she could taste the salt. Despite the fact she hardly ever came to the beach, she loved it. The sun, sand, water, and even the salt. She was the first one in the water.

Shawn held up the skimboard and asked, "Do you want me to go over how to skimboard again?"

She snatched the item he was holding up, and answered, "I got it. I've done this before."

"Have at it then champ," he told her and watched as she ran back, scanning for a wave.

His eyes never strayed from her. Watching as she dropped the skimboard and properly stepped on the board. She smiled as she felt the board rise with the wave, and smiled at the fact she didn't fall off. Her grin grew wider as the force of the wave brought her right up to Shawn.

She hopped off the board and flourished her arms. "Ta-da! How was that?"

"Not bad," Shawn said offhandedly, and she just rolled her eyes.

"So is Gus not really going to come in the water?" she asked, staring at Gus sitting on the beach.

"Skimboarding's not really his thing," Shawn answered, picking up said item. "Now let me show you how the master does it."

She giggled. "Sure Master Shawn, show me your brilliance."

"I would get arrested if I showed you that."

She laughed at him and pretended to be annoyed. "Show me what you got Shawn, I'm starting to think you're all talk."

"Just watch this," he said, and ran out to the upcoming wave.

Instead of just using the wave to help coast along, Shawn tried to do a trick, and ended up falling off. Gloria, laughing, made her way over to him, both to gloat and to make sure he was not swept away by the waves.

He was sitting, spitting out the salt taste. He glanced up once he heard her laughter. "Wow, you sure are the master. I'm not sure I could ever do a move like that."

"Shut up," he muttered.

"Aren't you going to want to stand up?"

He gazed at her in confusion, and opened his mouth to ask what when a wave washed over him. Salt water automatically filled his mouth and stung at his eyes. As soon as he blinked the salt from his eyes, he glared up at a hysterical Gloria.

"Oh you think this is funny?" She nodded, so he did the only reasonable thing an adult would do. He pulled her in the water with him.

With a cry, she toppled over Shawn, landing on him. He grinned at her, and she grinned back, despite the fact she wanted to be mad at him. So, she splashed him.

"Oh real mature," Shawn cried, and splashed her back.

They splashed each other for a few minutes, till finally Gloria cried out, "Stop, stop."

He didn't stop, so Gloria grabbed his wrist, laughing.

There was a cough a few feet from them, and then a voice Gloria knew. "Well, someone still has her daddy complex."

Gloria groaned and looked up at a blonde girl her age, in a pink bikini not suitable for swimming, but perfect for tanning. The girl popped her bubblegum and smirked, tugging at her pearls.

"Hello Barbie, how's the life goal of being nothing but a trophy wife coming?" Gloria asked, forcing a smile.

"Great, and I heard you got arrested. At least there's one place you fit in," Barbie replied.

Shawn stared between the two girls, not being able to tell if this was the beginning of a catfight or friendly teasing. They seemed serious in their insults, but something in their tones made it sound lighter and friendly. There was also a look in their eyes. It could be hatred and loathing, but it could also be a look of friendship. Shawn did not understand teenage girls when he was teenager; he certainly was not going to understand them now.

Finally, Barbie gave a genuine smile. "Did you really get arrested?"

"Yeah," Gloria answered, smiling back, "bar fight."

Barbie shook her head. "Only you, Glor. Listen, I'm having a party next weekend, and your welcomed to come."

"Thanks, I'll see if I can make it," Gloria told her.

"Call me, I miss talking to you," Barbie said. Gloria nodded and then Barbie added, "And by the way, my brother will be at the party."

"Okay, I'll let you know. And I'll call you Barbie," Gloria assured her.

"All right, bye."

"See ya around."

They watched Barbie walk away. Shawn turned to Gloria and asked, "Who was she?"

"Samantha, or as we so lovingly nicknamed her, Barbie. We were good friends, back in school," Gloria answered him.

"And that comment about having a daddy complex?"

"Had a fling with her much older brother," she confessed.

"Really? How much older?"

"You know, I really don't think it's vital for you to know that," she told him, getting up. "So, what's the second thing on the agenda?"

"You're going to have to help me up to find that out," Shawn bargained, holding out his hands and giving her a puppy dogface.

"Forget it, I'll ask Gus," she replied and walked away slowly.

Shawn watched her walk, and then followed her smiling.

ta-da! another chapter up, enjoy and thanks for all the reviews and good lucks in college, it means a lot 


	8. Who's Going to Jump Out of the Cake?

Thanks for the reviews, here's the second part of Gloria's birthday, with a twist ending! hope you enjoy babies! 

The Santa Barbara pier always had a warm sea breeze, and a friendly disposition. It was a big family attraction, but still a fun way to kill a day. All the little booths of knickknacks, and tasty food that clogs arteries would easily amuse anyone. Plus, it was a great place just to walk and talk. It was also the second thing on the agenda.

"So a hippo really is your favorite animal?" Gus asked.

"Yes, why is that so hard to believe?" Gloria replied, annoyed.

"They're fat and grey," Gus told her.

"So are elephants and people like them," she defended.

"Well, that could also be because elephants are the only animals other then humans who grieve," he said matter-of-factly.

"Dude, why do you know that?" Shawn asked, not believing he was friends with someone this nerdy.

"Hippos are territorial and a mother hippo can kill an crocodile to protect her child, I saw it on a documentary," Gloria shot back at Gus.

"Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, stop! This conversation is getting way too geeky for my taste. The only thing worse would be who had the better costume, Superman or Batman," Shawn said, aggravated.

"Batman," Gus stated with a haughty nod.

Gloria leaned in towards Gus and said, just to annoy him, "Wonder Woman."

Shawn's hand flew to Gloria's mouth. "Don't get him started on her, he'll never shut up."

She pushed his hand away as Gus muttered, "Shut up Shawn, you had a crush on her too when you were little."

"No, I had a crush on Supergirl," Shawn corrected him.

"You guys are nerds," she stated, rolling her eyes.

"I am not a nerd," Shawn told her. "Gus is, but I'm not."

"Hey! You know Shawn, I'm really sick of your mouth," Gus cried.

"Who wants ice cream?" Gloria asked out of place with a strange smile.

"Yeah, I could go for some ice cream," Shawn answered. "I'll get it with you."

As they walked up to the ice cream stand Shawn turned to her and said, "You know Gus and I don't mean it when we fight."

She nodded. "I figured that. And before you ask, it doesn't bother me, I just wanted some ice cream."

"Um-huh."

"What kind of ice cream does Gus want?"

"Black raspberry yogurt," he answered.

"_Black_ raspberry, huh? You wanna have some fun with Gus?"

"All the time. What do you have in mind?"

"Follow my lead when we get back." Shawn nodded grinning.

Gloria and Shawn reappeared at the table. Shawn was licking his double scoop cotton candy ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, while Gloria had her scoop of cookie dough in one hand, and Gus's black raspberry yogurt in the other. Smiling she handed Gus his ice cream, saying, "Here's your _black_ raspberry."

"Thanks," Gus replied, wary of the way she was smiling.

"You know, I got to think what your favorite animal should be. I think it should be a _black_ lab," she stated.

"No, Gus doesn't like dogs," Shawn informed her. "It should be a _black_ bear."

Gloria grinned wider and said, "No, the _black_ widow spider."

"No, the _black_ mamba snake!"

"And his favorite book is '_Black_ Beauty'!"

"And his favorite superhero is the _Dark _Knight!"

"Ha ha, very funny guys, making fun of me because I'm…" Gus trailed off.

"What?" Shawn asked innocently. "A pharmaceutical salesman?"

"Over thirty?" Gloria chimed in.

"Shut up, you know what I mean."

Shaw and Gloria just shared a grin.

Before Gloria or anyone else knew it, the day was over. Gus had gone to his other job, leaving Shawn and Gloria alone. Shawn was sitting on the couch, while she was leaning against a desk, a few feet from him.

"Shawn, this was a really great birthday, thanks."

"The best birthday?" he asked, grinning.

"Um, close second to my twelfth birthday," she said.

"What? I know for a fact this was an awesome birthday, what was your twelfth like?"

"My mom pawned me and a friend off on my Uncle Carl. She was supposed to take us somewhere, I forget where, but instead she went out on a date with her boyfriend," she explained.

"How is that better then a day of skimboarding and the pier?"

"You didn't let me finish," she said and continued, "Uncle Carl brought my friend and me to Chuckie Cheese."

"Chuckie Cheese? When you're twelve?"

She nodded, grinning. "That's exactly how we felt, much to old and mature for that little kids place.

"It was fun though, Uncle Carl talked to us and let us go into the arcade. He didn't really know what to do with two preteens girls, and kinda just let us go off and do our own things. He saw me struggling with a shooting game, and taught me how to aim and shoot the gun. And I just gotta say, to this day I still kick ass at the arcade shooting games."

"Glor, that sounds fun and everything, but I still don't see how it's better then spending a day with me," Shawn stated.

She rolled her eyes and confessed, "It was just a really good day and I didn't have a lot of those when I was younger."

Shawn got off the couch and walked over to her. He nudged her a little and questioned mischievously, "Well, you had a good day today, didn't you?"

She flashed him a grin and answered, "Yeah, thanks to you."

"No problem," he replied, suddenly realizing there was very little space between them.

He looked down at her, her hair still damp from the ocean, and she still smelt like the ocean. Her smile was inviting, and there was a look in her eyes that dared him to do something.

He did. Their lips met, and Shawn could still taste the sea salt on her lips.

Gloria had braced herself for his touch, knowing it was coming, but still was not ready for him. She froze, suddenly afraid, but it died away once she noticed his lips were surprisingly soft and sensual. Gloria melted, suddenly losing sight of where she was, all her attention focused on Shawn's soft lips on hers.

Shawn pulled away and Gloria just smiled at him. "Well, that was a nice birthday present."

"Oh it's not over yet," he said and kissed her again, this time with more passion.

She moaned, and subconsciously Shawn guided her towards the couch. They plopped down on it, kissing frantically, when the phone rang.

Shawn groaned and quickly answered the phone. "Hello Psych."

"Spencer, put Gloria on the phone," Carlton barked.

"Glor, it's for you," Shawn cried.

Gloria took the phone and greeted, "Hello."

"Hi Gloria, happy birthday," Carlton said.

"Thanks Uncle Carl," she replied, trying not to giggle as Shawn began kissing her neck.

"Listen, I wanted to take you out to dinner for your birthday, but a case came up," Carlton explained. "Rain check, okay?"

"Yeah sure, Uncle Carl," she answered, trying to keep her voice level as Shawn's hands ran over her body.

Carlton sighed and said, "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but can you make sure that you get a ride home with Spencer?"

She held in a giggle as Shawn nibbled on her ear. "Sure Uncle Carl, I'll get a ride home. Bye."

"Bye."

"You need a ride home?" Shawn whispered in her ear.

"Yeah, but I don't have to be home right away," she answered.

Shawn kissed her again, and his hand began toying with the bottom of her shirt. He lifted it ever so slightly, and Gloria brought her hand down to stop him.

Gloria quickly covered her standoffish movement by saying, "Well, my home is empty and has a bed so maybe I should go home."

He grinned at her and asked playfully, "Ever been on a motorcycle?"

The ride to her house was quick and wonderful. The warm early evening air rushed past the two huddled on the bike. The sensation of the wind, the vibration of the bike and the heat from Shawn's body was almost too much for Gloria. She hopped off the bike as soon as he parked and pulled off her helmet. She turned her attention to him, and before he could even got off the bike, she ripped off his helmet and crashed her lips into his. He kissed her back, a hand found its way to her lower back, pushing her closer to him.

He broke the kiss and smiled at her. "Aren't you little miss aggressive?"

With a playful grin she whispered in his ear, "I go after what I want."

"Couldn't even wait till I got off the bike?"

"Hurry up or I pull you off myself," she teased.

He swung his leg around and stood up. She pressed her body against his. He smirked and was about to kiss her when he noticed a light on in the house.

"I think you left the kitchen light on," he stated.

"No, I don't leave lights on, I care about the environment," she told him jokingly, and turned towards her house.

Her heart skipped a beat. All thoughts of lust left her mind. She stared at the car in the driveway and the illuminated window. She knew this couldn't be good.

"Shawn thanks for the ride, but you better head back to the office," she quietly ordered.

The sudden change in her tone made it clear that something was not right. He then noticed a modification in her eyes; the sparkle was gone, darken by fear.

"Gloria, what is it?" he asked concerned.

She knew his concern was genuine, and it was comforting. Sighing, she answered, "I think my mom is home."


	9. Welcome Home Mom and Scary Boyfriend

Gloria walked through her front door with a huge sense of dread. She had finally convinced Shawn to go home, and watching him drive off she wished she could have been on the back of his bike.

A sound from the kitchen brought Gloria back to the situation at hand. The sound was either a laugh or a sob. She felt horrible about it, but she prayed the sound was her mother crying. Her heart sunk when she heard a second noise, a man's laughter.

She shut the door as quietly as she could, and quickly darted across the hallway, hoping she was not seen from the kitchen. She paused at the base of the stairs, safely hidden by a wall. She strained her ears to hear any sound that might indicate that the occupants in the kitchen heard her. Sighing after realizing she was in the clear, she started up the stairs. Of course she forgot to skip the stair that squeaks.

"Gloria, is that you?" Her mother's voice rang through the suddenly empty house.

Gloria did not answer, and was debating not to reply except for the fact she heard the shuffling of chairs in the kitchen. She called out, "Yes mother."

The shuffling stopped and her mother requested, "You wanna come in here so I can see my baby girl?"

Gloria did not move. "Actually, I had a long day, I was planning on just going to bed."

"You can come in and give your mom a hug. I haven't seen you in like three weeks."

"Try close to five weeks," she shot back.

"More of a reason to come here and see me."

"I'd rather just go to bed," she stated.

"Gloria, get in the kitchen," a strong male voice ordered.

With her head hung, she made her way to the kitchen. Her mother, a woman in her forties with damaged, fried hair from being dyed too many times to please whatever boyfriend of the month's taste was. This time she was a blonde and laughing, lines forming on her cheeks that she will hide tomorrow with a pound of foundation to keep her false youthful appearance.

The man had dark, knotted, somewhat long hair that just flopped to the side. He wasn't the type of man who cared enough to manage his hair. He did not care much about his appearance, except when it came to his body. He was fanatic about keeping his body in shape, and being stronger then everyone he knew, it gave him a sense of power. That alone scared Gloria.

Her mother, Sarah Lassiter, smiled at Gloria. As Gloria walked closer, Sarah clapped her hands excitedly, like a little child would when they have something exciting to say, and blurted out, "Baby girl, guess what?"

"The desert ate Nick the Dick and this is his good twin, Dan the Man?" Gloria replied, sending a death glare at the man seated across from her mother. He returned the glare.

"Gloria!" her mother attempted to scold, but was too excited by her news to be truly angry. "You've got be nicer to Nick."

"Why?"

"Because we got married in Vegas!" she answered, grinning and holding up her hand showing off the gold wedding band.

"What! You got married? To him!" Gloria cried shocked and hurt. "You know how I feel about him."

"I know you and Nick have had problems in the past," at this point Sarah gave a loving smile and a reassuring squeeze to Nick, "but you're just going to have to learn to live with each other now. And Gloria, please try this time, I want us to be one big happy family, don't you?"

Gloria just stared at her mother, too shocked to do anything else. A big happy family? Her mother did not care if Gloria was happy, her mother did not even care if she was happy, as long as her boyfriend was happy. Gloria was not ready to accept this news.

She shook her head and said quietly, "You're a whore."

"What!"

"Don't speak to your mother that way," Nick yelled.

"Oh fuck off," Gloria yelled right back. She pointed to her mother and screamed, "You're a whore, and you two can go to Hell."

She stormed out of the room, not hearing the chair fall to the ground behind her. She had reached the first couple steps on the stairs when she felt a hand forcing her to turn around. She was now staring at green-brown hazel eyes, full of hate, which belonged to Nick. His short fuse was lit, in other words he was angry.

"Don't ever talk to me like that!" he screamed in her face.

She kept her mouth shut, not wanting to angry him anymore. She was trying to learn how to control her tongue.

He noticed her silence and smirked. "So you're finally learning your place as a subspecies?"

"You can go to Hell," she spat. "The only subspecies here is you, a pathetic excuse of man that has to compensate for a _littler_ part of him."

She had gone too far. His hand wrapped tightly around her neck. The pressure was paralyzing. Suddenly all her focus was on trying to breathe, barely registering that Nick hissed in her ear, "What did I say last time about that mouth?"

She glared at him and suddenly remembered her legs worked this time. She kicked him in the shin, and he released her. While he was groaning in pain, she answered his question, "Last time you made it hard for me to focus on what you were saying, since you were choking me. So would you mind repeating it?"

He raised his hand and brought it down, across Gloria's face in response.

She was already unbalanced, and the force from the back of his hand was more then enough to knock her down the stairs. She landed on her back, the pain intense, but she ignored it and forced her body to sit up, using the wall for support.

He leaned over her body, his hand found its way around her neck again. "You little bitch!"

The response was the ringing of the doorbell.

Shawn stood on Gloria's doorstep, with her backpack in hand. True, he could have waited till tomorrow to give this back to her, but in reality, he was looking for any excuse to come back and check if she was all right.

He glanced through the window next to the front door. He could not see clearly, white curtains hazed his vision. He did see the body of Gloria sitting against a wall, and a man leaning over her. Shawn saw the man grab her, but could not determine if he was grabbing her shoulder or somewhere else. He quickly rang the doorbell.

The door flung open. The man Shawn had seen leaning over Gloria was standing in the doorway. Shawn gave him his best smile and greeted, "Hi!"

"What do you want?" the man snapped.

"I'm Shawn Spencer, Gloria's boss. She left this at the office today," Shawn told him, holding out her backpack.

Nick grabbed the backpack and threw it as hard as he could at Gloria. Shawn stared at him shocked, and then glanced over at Gloria. She was glaring at Nick, after being hit on the side of her face by the backpack. Shawn's emotions went from shock to anger after he observed that Gloria's cheek was red, and not from the backpack.

"Was that it?" Nick asked, annoyed that Shawn has not left yet.

"Actually I need to speak to Gloria, its business related," he told him, trying once in his life to sound professional.

Nick stayed where he was and questioned, "What is it you do, Shawn Spencer?"

"I'm a Psychic Consult for the Santa Barbara Police Department," he answered proudly.

"Psychic? Get out of here," Nick told him, obviously a nonbeliever.

"Let me prove it," Shawn said, and quickly observed him. His watch was set back an hour. "You were recently in the Mountain time zone."

Nick had a fleeting look of surprise, which was quickly replaced by suspicion. "What city?"

Shawn glanced around, trying to figure out a way not to answer when Gloria caught his eye. She was mouthing the answer.

"The spirits are telling me, Las Vegas!" he cried.

Nick folded his arms. "Lots of people go there. Try again."

Shawn glanced over the man again. He noticed something he missed before. On Nick's muscular arm, peeking out from under the sleeve of his white shirt was a tattoo Shawn had not seen before. Without censoring himself, which he learned was a mistake, he blurted out, "You've been in prison."

Shawn knew this shocked him, but it also angered him. Nick turned his gaze from Shawn to Gloria, whose face was full of fear and panic. She shook her head frantically, answering Nick's unsaid question.

Shawn realized he had said the wrong thing, and Gloria was going to pay for it.

"All right, I think you've said enough. Good bye." Nick then pushed Shaw away from the door and slammed it shut. He heard the door lock, and knew there was nothing else he could do.

Sighing, Shawn made his way back to his bike, doing something he hardly ever did. He prayed for someone to watch over Gloria.

Nick watched as Shawn walked away, and then turned his fury to Gloria, who was trying to escape up the stairs. He grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her down the stairs. He slammed her against the wall. "You think it's fun to tell people about my past you little bitch."

"I didn't tell him, I swear," Gloria cried, trying to fight back tears as he bashed her against the wall again.

"You never were able to keep that fat trap of yours shut," he told her and tossed her to the ground. "I'm getting a beer."

Gloria knew that meant five beers, knew that meant trouble for her, and bolted to her room. She wished her room could have been a haven from Nick, but the blood still stained her floor from the last time he was like this, almost six weeks ago. They only haven she had left was her club.

Packing her bag, she opened her window quietly. Carefully climbing out the window on to roof, she slowly made her way to edge and got dizzy looking down at the ground. Taking a deep breath, she sat on the roof, her legs dangling, griped the edge and slowly lowered herself off. Hanging as far as she could, she closed her eyes and let go. Gasping as she hit the hard ground, she rolled on her ankle and was now groaning in pain.

Blinking the pain away as best she could, she stood up and limped away from her Hellhole, still not sure where she was going or that someone was watching her.

A/N: I just want to hug my fictional character, is the weird? what you think? 


	10. Old For a Day

Guilt is a funny thing. It makes people do certain thing; sometimes even forget certain things. Gloria never was able to understand guilt, especially since she had seen so little of it over her life. How was she supposed to know that this feeling, burning at her insides was her feeling guilty? She had to go and ruin her mother's first night home in five weeks. She could not just smile, say congratulations and then make a run for it. She had to kill her mother's happiness.

Gloria did not even realize how warped this point of view was.

Shawn on the other hand, recognized his guilt. He wished he could take back what he said on Gloria's front door, wished he could have called out that Nick fellow on hitting her, and wished he could have stayed to make sure she was safe. Therefore, his guilt made him stay parked in a neighbor's driveway, waiting for any sign of fighting to call the cops or for Gloria to sneak out.

True he only knew Gloria for about a week, but that was long enough to know her. She would leave, she was not the type of girl to take this lying down. And sure enough, in about thirty minutes she was limping down the street.

Shawn followed, wanting to ride up to her and make sure she was okay, but he knew her better then that. She would never accept his help, she was too damn proud just like her uncle. So he followed her, and made sure she got wherever she was going safely.

Feeling exhausted, Shawn sat in the Psych office wondering what to do about Gloria. He had no proof that the intimidating man had hit her, and something in his gut told him Carlton would not take kindly to that kind of accusation unless he had proof and not just a psychic vision.

Then a very small smile crept on his lips. He could use his psychic visions to trick Carlton into investigating Gloria's new man of the house, and once Carlton sees that this man has been in jail, he'll never let Gloria stay there. So all Shawn now needed was the man's full name, and Gloria could help with that.

Yes Gloria could help, if she came in today. After last night Shawn could not blame her is she did not show up, he probably would not. Yet that did not stop him from hoping she would, he wanted to see her. He had a bottle of aspirin out, just incase she appeared.

"Hi Shawn," she greeted warmly as she entered the office. Shawn smiled back, still worried since she was trying her best to disguise her limp.

Still smiling he replied, "Hey Glor, how's it feel to be an adult for a full day?"

"I just feel old, my back aches already," she joked with him.

He nodded and the stated, "You want to know what's really weird? I woke up this morning with the worst headache. I have no clue why, did that happen to you?"

It was at this point she spotted the bottle and Shawn noticed the quick grin. "Actually yeah, I did. How weird is that? Mind if I steal some aspirin?"

He tossed her the bottle. "So that guy last night…" he began.

"Nick," she supplied.

"Nick, got a last name and who is he?"

She shrugged very casually. "Toinopski and he's my mom's boyfriend." She then flashed him a grin and asked playfully, "Did you think I was replacing you?"

He could not believe her attitude, acting like she was not hiding a bruised cheek under foundation. He smiled back, a little uneasy and replied, "You would never be able to replace me."

"I figured as much," she stated. "So what do two adults do when neither of them want to work?"

"Well, they can do as much as pretend to work, or spend the day conversing among each other. However, I found that if there is a mutual attraction between the two, they can spend the day still conversing, or not conversing," he told her.

She grinned at the suggestion. She wanted the last person to touch her to be him, not Nick. In truth, she did not want to be touch right now, not as a friend, not as a lover, but she knew she had to get over that, and wanted Shawn to be the one holding her.

"Now what kind of non-conversing would go on?" she asked, taking a step closer.

Shawn's smile dropped, he could not keep up with the charade. "Wait Gloria, are you sure you want to do this? I mean after last night…"

"What about last night Shawn?" she snapped, suddenly angry. "My mom and her boyfriend came home and told me they got married. That's it, nothing else happened. So we can either not converse or you can keep talking and I'll walk out the door."

"Are you sure?"

She sighed, it looked like she would have to initiate the kiss this time, since Shawn seemed so reluctant. Right before her lips meet his, she mumbled, "You're still conversing."

The kiss was the same from last night, sweet and passionate, something that should have sent waves of pleasure down Gloria's body, but this time she just could not get her mind behind the kiss. She kept feeling uneasy and strange with Shawn's lips pressed against hers.

Shawn did not seem to have that problem. He was enjoying it, and brought his hand up to her neck to caress it lovingly, but it caused the wrong kind of reaction. She panicked, and with force Shawn had not expected, she pushed him off of her. He fell back, glancing up at Gloria, who was clutching her neck for protection.

It was the fear in her eyes that killed him. She had become terrified for her life by him just caressing her neck. He apologized remorsefully, "I'm sorry Gloria. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"I, I shouldn't… have pushed…" It was the closest thing he would get to an apology, or her saying anything at the moment. She just stared, still frightened though there was nothing threatening her.

Shawn was about to get up, when he noticed that part of Gloria's shirt was raised, exposing her stomach. He stopped cold and stared, shocked at what he was seeing. Without warning he lifted up Gloria's shirt to get a better view. It had been less then a second before she pushed her shirt back down and ran into the bathroom, but Shawn had seen enough.

Gloria slammed the door shut and locked it. Leaning on the skin for support she took several deep breaths, and eventually steadied her shaking body. She glanced at the mirror, staring at the spot where she should have a bruise on cheek. Turning on the water she started to wash away the ivory colored foundation, revealing the small blue circle on her jaw line.

She wondered if the bruise was a punishment or a badge? She did not know at this point. Punishment for her mouth, or a badge to show she was living through a dysfunctional family? Her hand flew to her stomach, cradling it softly. Until recently she had looked at her stomach as a badge of some alternate version of pride. Though she could never explain why.

Taking off her shirt slowly, she glanced at herself in the mirror. Her light pink bra seemed to compliment her milky skin tone and the scars on her stomach.

Now staring at her stomach in the mirror, she grimaced as she saw it. Hundreds of small vertical lines running up and down her torso, some had paled into a color whiter then her skin tone, will other were still red and painfully visible.

She softly placed her hand over the scars, and shuddered from the touch. She ran her fingers over the majority of them, there were too many to count, the highest she ever got up to was a hundred and twelve. She shivered as her fingers grazed over a particularly long scar, and thought about how many nights she had become her bands mutilated zombie, playing up her scars with red stage make up, just to be some sort of sideshow attraction.

Tears sprang to her eyes and she could not hold it in any longer. Crying, she ignored the knocks on the doors and Shawn's worried pleads to open the door. She sat on the floor, knees brought up to her chest, while wishing she could just die, a thought not uncommon to her.

The door opened, Shawn peeked in cautiously, the key in his hand. He knelt next to her, concerned and said softly, "I'm sorry Gloria, but I need to know what happened."

She shook her head, crying into her knees. She would not tell him, he would not believe it.

"Gloria, I want to help," he assured her and placed a hand gently on her shoulder.

She pulled away from him, and glanced up, angry. Her face was red from crying, Shawn could see the glistening trail of tears running down her cheeks, and all the sadness in her eyes. She stood up, her shirt lay forgotten in the corner and screamed, "You want to help! No you just want to look at the mutilated freak, so go ahead and look!"

Shawn eyes moved according to their own wishes. He stared at her stomach quickly and counted a hundred and twenty eight scars, ranging in size from a centimeter to the longest one of about four inches. His eyes jumped back to Gloria's eyes and saw no shame there, just pain and sadness.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked quietly, not sure how to handle this situation.

"I got into an accident when I was twelve," she spat and fished up her shirt.

"What kind of accident?" he questioned, unable to get the image of her scared stomach out of his head.

"The magical fairy kind," she retorted, and quickly put on her shirt. Huffing, she made her way over to Shawn's desk, while he followed.

"I don't think fairies leave that kind of mark, maybe goblins, but not fairies," Shawn quipped halfheartedly.

Gloria searched through the draws till she found Shawn's emergency lunch money stash. She took twenty dollars and then told him, "It was a car accident and I'm taking lunch."

Before Shawn could disagree, she had walked out the door.

Shawn had waited for two hours in hopes Gloria would return. She did not, but he had figured that anyways. Sighing, he got up and decided to try his luck at the police station.

Carlton had just got off the phone with the restaurant, _La Vacule_, when Shawn Spencer sauntered up to his desk. "Big dinner plans?" he asked.

"Actually, I'm planning on taking Gloria there for dinner tonight since yesterday I had to work on a case, which no I am not going to talk to you about, so you can just walk on out of here," Carlton stated firmly and pointed towards the door.

"Well actually I came here on-" Suddenly Shawn stopped, and his mouth hung open. He looked like had just been stabbed. Wheezing he moaned out, "Oh, so much pain! Oh it hurts so bad. And there's an eleven, no twelve year old figure with piercing blue eyes, but so much pain!"

He bent over, groaning but managed to look at Carlton through his "pain". "Lassie, were you in an accident when you were twelve?"

"No," he answered gruffly.

"Then I don't know who this poor spirit could be, they have eyes just like yours," Shawn told him and saw the momentary flash of panic as Gloria's name popped into her uncle's mind.

"Is it a girl or boy?" Carlton asked, trying to hide the urgency in his voice.

"I can't tell, I'm in too much pain," Shawn groaned and then finally his "pain" died down and he could stand again. Letting out a deep sigh he mumbled, "That was intense."

"Spencer, is that all you came here to tell me? That was even more pointless then usual," the detective snapped.

"No, I just stopped by to see if you needed any help today," Shawn told him. "And that was not pointless, we just found out that at one point of time a twelve year old with blue eyes was in large amounts of pain."

"Well, there are no cases dealing with a twelve year old, so it was pointless," Carlton argued.

"Maybe it was a spirit from a cold case," Shawn shot back, but then his arm began shaking uncontrollably. "Oh boy," he cried as his arm moved up and down.

Carlton rolled his eyes as Shawn deciphered, "Box… One window, but there's solid stripes going through them. No, bars! Jail, I'm in a jail cell."

"All right, if you say so, I'll be happy to put you in a jail cell," Carlton said, getting up and going towards Shawn.

"NO! The spirits are trying to warn me about someone who's been in jail, and possibly just released. A Lick… A Mick… No, Polish Nick!" Shawn shouted. He opened his eyes and concluded, "Nick Toinopski!"

"That was oddly specific Spencer," Carlton noted. "What crime has this Toinopski supposedly committed?"

"I don't think any, _yet_, but the spirits are very concerned that he will commit one _again_," Shawn explained. "You should check up on him."

"No," Carlton responded flatly.

"Come on," Shawn whined. "The spirits are being specific and giving you a name and you're just gonna turn that down? All you have to do is click on one thing and type in one little name!"

"No, I'm not going to waste my time," Carlton said.

"But please!!!" Shawn's voice got high and too annoying for Carlton.

Sighing, he clicked an icon on his computer screen and typed in the name Shawn had given him. "Fine, you happy? I should get the results by this afternoon. Now is there anything else you wanted?"

Shawn paused, pleased he accomplished his goal, but pondered if he could be any more productive today. "What about this case that was too important to celebrate Gloria's birthday?"

A/N: So there you go, that explains a little bit why the guy on the bus asked to see Gloria's belly. now tell me, if you were Gloria, what would you have been doing all day after a breakdown? 


	11. Knocking Back a Few and Then a Bus Ride?

A/N: so thanks for the reviews people! this chapter is pretty long, sorry, but I couldn't find a good place to end it, and I LOVE this ending! I think it deserves to be in one show!

Shawn returned back to his office, with no new information about any cases. He was staring to worry, Gloria had been gone far too long and the day was growing shorter. He did not want to know what Carlton would do if he came to the office and discovered that his niece was missing.

Pacing, Shawn called Gus getting his voicemail. "Gus, code red. Gloria left and Lassiter is about to show up to the office. He's gonna kill me, I need you to be here to protect me and to make sure my pineapple collection doesn't get destroyed after my death."

Hanging up, Shawn groaned, trying to figure out how to explain Gloria's absence to Carlton. Practicing, Shawn said to an imaginary Carlton, "Listen Lassieface, Gloria and I had a disagreement earlier about where to buy the best pineapples and she left to go buy one… in Hawaii."

Shawn just sighed, not able to think of a decent excuse for why he let Gloria leave. Luckily, he was saved since Gloria walked through the doors.

"Oh thank god, Gloria, where were you?" Shawn asked, after letting out a major sigh of relief.

She shrugged and mumbled, "Out and about, around."

"Listen, you can't just leave during the work day," Shawn started, but he just got a shrug in response. He noticed she seemed strange, slower then normal. "Are you high?"

"No!" she cried, angry, glaring at Shawn.

He got a whiff of Bacardi on her breath. "You're drunk? Lassiter is going to be here soon!"

"So?" she mumbled and sat down, Shawn praying not because she was that drunk just that tired.

"He's going to kill me and then you, you know that?"

She stood up, stumbled slightly and told him, "I can take care of myself, so back off."

As Shawn went to steady her, the door creaked open and Carlton walked in, holding purple flowers. Shawn quickly dropped his hand and took a step back, wanting to stay out of Carlton's reach. Gloria just smiled.

"Hi Uncle Carl," she greeted, stepping towards him as gracefully as she could.

"Happy birthday," he replied, handing her the flowers. "I'm sure purple isn't your favorite color anymore, but-"

"No, they're great," she told him, taking a sniff of her present. "I still like the color purple."

"So I was thinking about taking you out for dinner," Carlton told her.

"Yeah, food sounds good right now," she replied and began walking out the door without a glance or goodbye at Shawn. "So where we going?"

Even though Carlton did not posses Shawn's great skills of observation, he still noticed the cold way Gloria was treating him. Carlton glanced at Shawn, who was grabbing his stomach, in "pain" again. Their previous conversation flash through Carlton's mind and he answered Gloria, "_La Vacule_. Gloria were you ever in an accident?"

She whirled around, staring at Shawn. Her eyes were bursting with betrayal. She quickly glanced at her uncle and replied, "No." She smiled slightly and inquired, "That's that Italian place downtown, right?"

Carlton had been a detective too long to be fooled by the change in subject maneuver. She was lying to him, and it hurt. Nodding, he answered, "Yeah, you feel like Italian?"

"I love Italian."

On any other day Gloria would have loved Italian. Yet, becoming sober transformed the smell of all the wonderful food form enticing to nauseating. Wishing she had said no to those last three shots of Bacardi, she quietly smiled pretending she was enjoying herself.

She was not fooling her uncle. Carlton could tell right away something was off. It started with the fact she limped into the restaurant, and then denied she had a limp. Once she was sitting, all she did was stare off into space, and then when she noticed he was staring at her, she would just smile and not say a word. Then, when it came to order she just pointed to a meal instead of say what it was. In fact, she did not even read what she ordered. He could tell since when the food arrived, she was surprised to find it was veal.

"How's your meal?" Carlton asked coldly.

She had just pushed around the slices of dead baby cow with her fork, not even daring to lift the food up to her mouth. "Great."

Shaking his head, he muttered angrily, "You're going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow."

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You're drunk Gloria."

"No I'm not," she replied sweetly.

"Yes you are. You've used the table three times already to steady yourself and you look ready to pass out."

"Maybe I'm ready to pass out because this restaurant is so dimly lit I think it's night." Her argument made no sense, thus proving his suspicion.

"During the middle of the day too? I can't believe Spencer."

"Hey, Shawn didn't have a thing to do with it. I got drunk after I left work after being there for less then an hour because I do what I want," she pouted.

"Fine, then I can't believe he let you leave and didn't tell me about what a child you're being," he snapped at her.

"I am not a child, I am an adult and you want to know what this adult found out? Shawn is a really good-" She stopped dead.

"Really good what?"

"Guy, and you should back off him." She was going to say "kisser", but she wasn't that drunk.

"You would only think that since you both act like children!"

She stood up and wobbled a bit. "You know, I don't have to take this."

He knew if she tried walking with that limp she would fall down before she reached the door. Calmly he told her, "Gloria, sit down before I arrested you for public intoxication."

"You wouldn't," she stated firmly, but saw his determine glare. Sitting back down she mumbled something about him treating her like a child.

"Now, I am going to ask for the check, take you home and yell at you. But if you're a good girl, I'll ask the waiter for some water so your hangover isn't so bad tomorrow," he told her patronizingly.

"No, don't take me home! It's dangerous if I'm like this," she pleaded.

He rolled his eyes, not ready to do her any favors, until he made eye contact with her blue eyes begging for some compassion. He sighed, he always had a soft spot for his niece.

Misconstruing her meaning, he replied, "I guess if something were to happen in the middle of the night, and no one was there to take care you of, you could die and I do have a couch. So yeah, for tonight you can come back to my place."

Flashing a huge grin at his compassion and the fact he did not know what she really meant, Gloria replied, "Thanks Uncle Carl."

Sighing, Carlton stopped the waiter and asked, "Can we get the check and a big glass of water for her?"

Carlton's couch was not exactly comfortable, but it did help the world from spinning. She tried to turn over and lay on her back, but Carlton stopped her.

Moving the garbage can next to her head, just in case, he ordered, "No, you stay on your side."

Eyes half closed she nodded. Sighing, he just watched his niece circle consciousness. On the ride over she had just about confessed to everything, turning his world upside down. She started smoking marijuana before she had turned thirteen, drinking followed shortly after her thirteenth birthday. He questioned her on why, and she could only reply with a shrug. After telling him that for the past six weeks she had stopped smoking, and this was her only slip up with alcohol, he couldn't help but be a little proud and a little worried.

Muttering to himself, he whispered, "Where the hell is your mother in all this?"

"At home," Gloria replied, unaware she was speaking, "with Toblaposki the Dick."

"She's home?" he asked, but Gloria was fast asleep.

Frowning, Carlton walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone. Sending one more glance over at Gloria, he dialed his sister's number.

The phone rang three times before she picked up. "Hello?"

"Sarah, it's Carlton."

"Oh my God, Carlton! I was just about to call you! I have great news! As you might not know, I just came back from vacation-"

He interrupted her. "What did you do with Gloria when you went on vacation?"

"Well, I left her here, I mean that's where all her friends are. 'Sides, in a week she'll be eighteen, I think I should start trusting her with some responsibility."

"She turned eighteen yesterday Sarah!" he snapped at his sister. She had always been flakey and forgetful, but honestly, to forget your own daughter's birthday?

She laughed. Not nervously, not awkwardly, just laughed like this situation was amusing her. "I did the same thing when she turned thirteen, I'm such a ditz sometimes."

He was not amused. "You know, the next time you spontaneously decide to go out of town and leave your underage daughter alone, you might want to tell someone to stop in and check up on her, and to be responsible for her incase she ever gets arrested."

"Gloria wouldn't get arrested."

"Really? Then why did over a week ago I get a phone call at four am from Officer Starosiek saying my niece was in jail?"

"What? Gloria would never-"

"Oh don't worry, I took care of it for you, since I always have to be the grown up. It won't be on her record as long as she completes her probation, which apparently she skipped today."

"Well, I am just going to have to have a talk with my baby girl the second she gets home," Sarah assured him. "But listen, I have big news. I was on vacation with my boyfriend-"

"Toblaposki or something, right?"

"Toinopski, and we got married!"

Carlton's throat suddenly became dry. "What's his first name?"

"Nick, but can you believe it? I finally got married."

"Has he ever been in jail?"

A cold silence greeted him, followed by a swift change in his sister from warm and carefree, to cruel and harsh, "No. You shouldn't believe everything Gloria says, she has never liked any of my boyfriends and will do anything to break us up."

"Maybe she wouldn't mind you dating around so much if you could remember when her birthday is," he criticized. "And what accident was she in when she was twelve?"

"Why the sudden interest in her life now? Where were you the past six years?"

"I don't know, maybe I was under the delusion that after what Mom and Dad put us through, you would treat your daughter better," he yelled in the phone.

"I have never treated her like Mom treated me," she defended.

"Yeah, ignoring her is a real step up!"

She laughed, though this time she was not amused, just angry. "Oh I see what this is, you're bitter! Your wife left you since you were too _afraid_ to have kids, so now you're taking it out by judging my parenting skills."

"Your parenting skills, or lack of, are the reason I didn't want to have kids!" He slammed the phone done, still fuming.

Glancing over at Gloria, he secretly thanked alcohol, finding her fast sleep.

The next morning was Hell for Gloria. Woke up, room still spinning, could only take a few bites of the eggs her uncle made for her, and any sound seemed ten times louder then usual. And during the night whatever makeup she had used to hide her bruise was now gone and she was frantically trying anything to hide it from her uncle.

Carlton pulled into a parking spot, right in front of the Psych's office big window. He turned to Gloria and pulled off his dark sunglasses. "Okay, stay in the car while I go have a chat with Spencer."

"You know, I didn't really give him a chance to stop me from leaving yesterday, you shouldn't yell at him for it."

"When ever I can, I yell at Spencer, but first I'm going to yell at you." She nodded and braced herself, only to find he wasn't yelling, just talking to her about his concerns.

"Listen, I'm glad you're not smoking pot or, except for yesterday, drinking anymore. And really, don't smoke, it's too risky. I know there's a bunch of people who have smoked, and they weren't caught and it didn't screw up their lives, but if you are caught with it, it will screw up your life, so just don't smoke."

She nodded, really hearing him and appreciating his concern.

"Also, with drinking, don't. Or don't drink to the point where you pass out or get alcohol poisoning, don't ever leave your drink unattended, or accept a drink from any one, drink only in a save place, don't drink and drive, and don't let me find out about it. Unless, you need a ride or you just don't feel safe then I'll come pick you up anywhere and be there in the morning to hand you this."

He gave her a bottle of water. "Drink plenty of this today, and here something for your head."

He pulled out a container of aspirin from his jacket. Taking it, she smiled and said, "I would hug you, but I got the Lassiter trait of not hugging."

He smiled back and assured her, "It's okay."

"I just have one question?"

"Shoot."

"Can I wear your sunglasses?"

Smiling, he handed her his sunglasses and walked into Psych.

"Spencer!" he cried, and Shawn jumped to his feet.

"Lassieface, how was dinner?"

"She was hammered? Know anything about it?"

Shawn shook his head. "Nope, news to me."

"That's weird, considering how she was in your office all day, right? So that means you must have gave it to her, which means you broke the law," he told Shawn, and reached for his handcuffs.

"No! She kept making trips to the bathroom, her stash must have been hidden in there, but I didn't give it to her and if I had noticed I would have stopped her," Shawn explained.

"Cut the crap Spencer, I know she stormed out of here yesterday," Carlton confessed and put the handcuffs away. "You should have told me she did that."

"I just thought she needed to blow off some steam, I didn't think she would drink to do that."

"How did you know about Toinopski?"

"The spirits," Shawn began.

"No, none of the spirits crap, nothing you say leaves this room, it's man to man," Carlton told him.

Shock silenced Shawn for a minute. "You serious?"

"I don't joke around when it comes to Gloria's safety."

"Aw Lassie, this enduring side of yours is somewhat attractive," Shawn stated, batting his eyelashes. When all he got was Carlton's stone cold face, Shawn confessed, "I meet him the other night when I dropped Gloria off. He has a homemade prison tat on his left, beefy arm. He's pretty jacked."

"Do you think he's responsible for that bruise on Gloria's left cheek she kept trying to hide with her hair or hand?"

After being a fake psychic for over a year now, Shawn got used to talking with his hand. He pointed to his own cheek after Carlton asked that, and Gloria watched from the car. She did not have to be psychic to know what they were talking about. Nervously she waited for Shawn to look away, but began wondering what was the worst that could happen if her uncle found out about her home situation.

_He'll find out how truly damaged you are and won't want a thing to do with you_, a voice hissed inside her head. She was afraid that the voice was right, and she needed to get out of there.

"I'd say you're probably right for once, Nick smacked her. I don't know how she got the limp though," Shawn concurred. He then added in an over the top voice, "We've got to band forces to do something!"

Carlton rolled his eyes, but he knew Shawn was right. "I could arrest him on assault, but I need a complaining witness, so if you could talk to her and get her to make a statement, I check in on his terms of parole and see if there's any possible violations."

"What was he in jail for?" Shawn questioned.

Carlton sighed, kicking himself at this moment. "I thought you were full of crap and didn't even bother looking at the results when they came, so I don't know."

Shawn stared out in the parking lot again, expecting to see a Gloria, with her uncle's dark aviator sunglasses on, looking like a much younger, much prettier, and longer hair version of Carlton.

"Uh Lassie, I think you forgot something important at home?" he said quietly, pointing out to the car.

Carlton glanced out and noticed his unoccupied car. Cursing, he ran out to the parking lot, Shawn following.

"She couldn't have gone far, right? She's on foot."

Shawn nodded, but then a thought struck him. "Well, there is a bus stop one block down, and the bus usually stops about, a minute ago."

On cue the bus rolled past Psych.

"Get in the car," Carlton ordered.

Obliging, Shawn hopped in the passenger seat earnestly. "Why?" he questioned as Carlton revved up his car.

In complete seriousness, Carlton answered placing his lone blue siren on the hood of his car, "We've got a bus to catch."


	12. That Evil Smile

"Do you know how cool you're being right now Lassiter?" Shawn cried excitedly, as they whipped out of the parking lot at full speed.

"Shut up Spencer," Carlton snapped. "All right, at the next bus stop, we storm the bus and find Gloria. You're job is to make sure no leaves the bus, all right?"

Shawn nodded, grinning like an idiot. "This is so awesome."

"It's not awesome, Gloria could be in serious danger," Carlton yelled, catching up to the bus. As it rolled to its next stop, he pulled over and the two hopped out, running up to the bus.

They got to the bus as its doors right as it opened. Charging in, Carlton pushed back the people trying to get off. Holding up his badge he yelled, "Police, everyone remain seated!"

"What's the problem officer?" the bus driver asked, frighten and confused.

Carlton ignored him, and began walking down the isle, searching for Gloria.

"Rash of bus robberies, this is for your own protection," Shawn told him seriously.

Shawn knew from the first second he walked on the bus what Carlton would find, but figured he better keep that little tidbit to himself. He also noticed a man in the front looking extremely nervous and kept fidgeting. As soon as Carlton walked passed him, the man made a beeline for exit, but Shawn was there to stop him.

"Hey there Speedy Gonzales, where you heading?" he asked, and then smiled when he recognized the man. "Joey!"

"We meet?" Joey questioned, confused.

"She's not here!" Carlton cried, hitting an empty seat.

Shaking his head, Shawn grabbed the back of Joey's neck and guided him towards the bus's door. "You're coming with us Gonzales."

Gloria sighed and picked up the pay phone. By now, if her planed worked, Shawn and Uncle Carl should be on Elm Street, realizing she was not on the bus. She should have at least a solid thirty minutes before they could find her. If it did not work, they would be there in little of five minutes. Quickly dialing the number she ripped out of the phonebook, she waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello, Stevenson Brokers Office, how may I help you?" a female secretary greeted.

"Hi, may I please be connected to Daniel Montgomery's office please," Gloria requested sweetly.

"One moment please."

There was a brief pause of elevator music, and then a male voice picked up. "Daniel Montgomery."

"Hi…" Gloria suddenly felt awkward and not sure how to go about asking her question. "Um, it's Gloria and I know we haven't spoken in a few years, but-"

"Gloria who?"

"Gloria Montgomery," she answered.

"Montgomery?" he repeated, still having no clue what her true identity was.

"Your daughter!" she snapped at him.

Juliet O'Hara tried never to eavesdrop on telephone conversation of complete strangers, but she could not resist this conversation. It was something straight out of a soap opera, a father not knowing his own daughter. So instead of walking back to her car with her coffee, like she had been previously doing, she stopped and pretended to be window-shopping, only a few feet away from the payphone. Also, she just wanted a quick glance at the drama queen, just to have an image of her to match to the voice and the drama.

Imagine her surprised when she realized the drama queen was her partner's niece. This made it even better, and now she was not just eavesdropping to be nosey, she was eavesdropping because she was concerned.

"Oh right, Stephanie's daughter, right?" Daniel asked.

"Sarah Lassiter," Gloria corrected. "And I'm just wondering if you remember what we talked about last time, I know it was almost six years ago, but-"

"Yeah no, I remember," he told her.

"Really?" This meant hope for her.

"Yeah, you got a puppy and made straight A's, right?"

Angered bubbled over in her. He was just saying anything to cover his ass. Sarcastically she commented, "Yeah, only this time I got a pet bear and I made it into Yale."

"Yale, good school, is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"No because I was being sarcastic! Listen the last time we talked, I asked if I could live with you. You turned me down, and told me when I was older if I still wanted to live in Los Angeles you would help, and I'm older now," Gloria told him. "I just need to get out of Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles is far enough. All I need from you is place to stay for two weeks at the most, till I find my own place. Two weeks, that's all I need from you and I don't want any of your money, just a place to sleep till I find my own."

There was a long pause, and she knew the answer would change her life.

"I'm sorry Gloria, but right now just not a good time in my life," he told her without guilt.

"The only thing I ever got from you was your name, you know that? That money you gave to my mother, I never saw any of it. She didn't even set up a savings account for me. And the second time in my life I ask you for something, something important too, you say no. So screw you, I'm changing my name to Lassiter! But not before I tell the Association of Dead Beat Dads, that you can be their new mascot."

Gloria slammed the phone down and let out a muffled scream.

Juliet made her way over, and asked kindly, "Hey, everything all right?"

Gloria jumped, and nodded. "Yeah, it's fine, just a fight with my dad."

"So I couldn't help but over hear, you want to leave town? Does Carlton know?" Juliet inquired.

"Uh, no, probably because now I can't leave," Gloria confessed. "I've got no where to go."

"Is there any reason why you want to leave that maybe your uncle can help you with?" Juliet suggested.

Gloria shook her head and replied, "Nope, I'm half cowboy and half nomad, both are known for constantly moving and you can't fight genetics."

Juliet help but smile at that comment since it reminded her of Shawn. "You've actually liked working at Psych, haven't you?"

Smiling, despite her mood, Gloria nodded. "The guys have been really good to me."

"So maybe you could fight genetics just this once to stick around for them," Juliet suggested. She then looked at her watch and asked, "Shouldn't you be at work right now?"

With playful slyness Gloria replied, "Shouldn't you?"

"Come on, I'll give you a lift," Juliet offered.

Gloria had no intention of go back to Psych. She had no intention of still staying in Santa Barbara after tonight, but she knew that Juliet would not leave her alone unless she accepted the ride. Of course by now, Shawn and Carlton would realize that Gloria was not on the bus and might head back to the office to see if she would come back. On the other hand, they both were detectives and there was a good chance that they would be out in the town looking for her, instead of staying at the office.

This was one of the few moments in life Gloria decided to leave up to fate. If she went back and they were there then she would tell them, if they were not then she would continue with her plan.

"Sure, thanks Juliet."

As Carlton watched the bus roll down the street, he could not hold in an aggravated sigh. He had no clue where Gloria was now. Turning to Shawn and some boy he did not recognized he asked, "Now what do we do, and who the hell is he?"

"Joey, meet Detective Lassiter," Shawn introduced. "If you don't cooperate, he'll arrest you for possession of what ever drug you have in your left pocket."

Joey stared at Shawn shocked, and then nervously glanced over at Carlton, who nodded. Joey's heart raced and with a dry mouth questioned, "What do you want to know?"

"Gloria, where does she hang out during the day?" Shawn asked.

"Gloria who?"

"Gloria Montgomery," Carlton snapped.

"Do I look like someone who a Montgomery would hang out with?" Joey replied. "And I don't know anyone named Gloria."

"Gloria, I wanna see more of ya," Shawn offered, receiving a glare from Carlton.

"Oh the singer chick," Joey muttered. "Yeah, I don't know where she hangs out during the day, but I know tonight you'll find her at the club."

"Which club?" Carlton demanded.

"That rock club."

"The Python Effect," Carlton stated quietly, sending a shiver up his spine. Joey nodded. "And she sings there?"

"Puts on quite a show," Joey told them, with a huge grin. Shawn and Carlton knew they were missing out on something.

"Anything else you wanna tell us?" Shawn asked, not in his usual friendly way.

Joey shook his head. "I don't really know her too well, since every time we talk I'm not in the right state of mind to remember it."

Feeling fed up with this druggie, Carlton snapped, "Give me your drugs."

"What?"

"Either I can arrest you or you can give me your drugs and walk away a free man, which one will it be?"

Joey nodded and handed over what was in his left pocket, a small baggie with a few different pills in it. "Now get out of here and stay away from Gloria."

Joey quickly turned and walked away, while Shawn yelled after him, "Say nope to dope!"

"Was that necessary Spencer?" Carlton snapped.

"Yes," Shawn shot back. "So, got any plans now?"

"I head back to station, round up some officers, check the file on this Nick fellow, and then me and the other offices search every street in this city to find her," Carlton explained. "And you're helping."

"Great, I'll call Gus and tell him to get to Psych and stay there till we find Gloria."

"You think she'll go back there?" Carlton asked patronizingly.

"No, but then again she might realize no one is there and it would probably be the safest place to hid, so yes then she'll go back there. And it's not going to hurt if Gus is there," Shawn explained and then made the phone call as he hopped into Carlton's car.

Smiling, Juliet walked into the police station. She knew she had 'done good', as Shawn would say, bringing Gloria back to Psych and had been smiling since Gloria had walked through the office doors. Juliet was just so happy she could help, she almost missed all the commotion in the center of the room.

"What's going on, a new case?" she asked, tall Buzz McNabb as all the uniformed officers were huddled around Carlton holding up a picture she could not see.

"Apparently there's a missing girl," Buzz explained as a copy of the picture was handed to him. He shared it with Juliet, who gasped.

"Uh Carlton," she cried out, interrupting him. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Can it wait?" he snapped.

"No."

"All right everyone, study her face for a few minutes and then I'll tell you your assignments," Carlton commanded and then turned to Juliet annoyed. "What?"

"I just dropped Gloria off at the Psych office twenty minutes ago," Juliet explained.

Not even responding to Juliet, Carlton turned and yelled, "McNabb, get on the radio and get who's ever on patrol over to 1321 Cabrillo Boulevard, right now. Johnson and Stevens, get over there now and start circling the address with a three mile radius."

"Hold it right there!" the chief's voice echoed through the room. Everyone stopped and watched as she walked up to Carlton. "How old is this girl?"

"Eighteen," he mumbled.

"Any sign of her being taken by force?"

"No."

"So she's just a runaway?"

"Yes."

"I will not have my entire police force working the case of some runway," Karen told him.

"But Karen…" he began, and then whispered only loud enough for her to hear, "Please?"

"No." She paused and added as an afterthought, "Unless she's broken any laws."

"She did, she violated probation!" he told her.

"All right then," she said loudly and turn to her officers, "You heard the man, go!"

As the officers dispersed, Karen turned to Carlton and warned, "She will hate you after this. Be prepared."

"I'd rather know where she is and that's she's safe, and have her hate me, then have no clue where she is," he confessed.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she whispered, "You've got great parental instinct, you know?"

Then she went back to her office before people could wonder what they were discussing. He was surprised to find out how much her words actually touch him.

Gloria slipped by the cops on her way home. They were all looking for her on foot, they forgot to look in the passenger seats of cars. She had called Barbie, after a few hours of just sitting in a coffee shop, trying to figure out what to do. Barbie gladly came and picked her up, no questions asked.

Barbie had been friends with Gloria long enough to know when she was in trouble, even though Gloria would never admit it. Barbie also knew that Gloria did not have the best relationship with her mother, or with any of her mother's boyfriends. Another piece of knowledge that Barbie had was Gloria had never been the same since a few weeks after she turned twelve. Barbie tried asking about it once, and Gloria stopped talking to her.

Barbie stopped in front of Gloria's house and asked, "Jesus, how many cop cars did we pass on the way here?"

Gloria shrugged, scanning the driveway, not paying attention. There were no cars in it.

"You want me to come in? I haven't been in your house in forever," Barbie suggested.

"No, I'm good, thanks again for the ride, my ankle was killing me," Gloria told her, opening up the car door.

"Yeah, anytime. See ya at my party?" Barbie asked hopefully.

"If I'm around, ya," Gloria told her truthfully and got out of the car. "Thanks, and bye."

"Bye," Barbie called back and Gloria entered her house.

The house had no sound to it bring relief to Gloria. Her goal was to get some clothes, gather up all the money she could find, sing one last time, and then get out of the city. With no sense of danger in her mind, she started up the stairs, stepping on the squeaky one.

"Sarah?" Nick asked from the living room.

Gloria froze, panic stiffing her joints. Her breathing stopped, as his voice grew louder, asking, "You back from the store already?"

He was standing in the doorframe, right next to the stair she was on. Blinking rapidly he muttered, "You…"

She slowly started breathing, only out of necessity though. But she stopped again, once he got that evil grin.

A/N: so basically I've been waiting all story for this to happen and to write the next chapter. This whole story came out of the images of Gloria's scars. seriously. And you want to know something? I got the idea of someone being scarred like Gloria, the vertical red lines on her torso, since one time I went surf turfing (you slide on wet grass either on your back or stomach) and slide on my stomach. After I showered off all the dirt and grass and I had hundreds of red lines up and down my torso. And then bam! the idea of someone having scars like that hit! and Gloria was born! not that you really needed to know that, just felt like sharing! 


	13. A Couple Aspirin Just Won't Do the Trick

A/N: so I tear up at the ending, just warning a head of time, of course some of you might not tear up, I know I only tear up because I'm emotionally connected to my character and it makes me sad. So here you go, no cliff this time.

He had that evil grin on. It was the same she had seen six years ago and the same she saw six weeks ago. This was never good for her, and she knew it. This always ended up with her hurt. It sent a shiver down her back, but she could not force herself to move.

"So, you've been good while I was away?" he asked, walking closer to her.

She did not respond, just kept staring at him, too frighten to move. All she could do was stare at him, noticing how strange he was acting. His eyes were bloodshot, he kept blinking fast, there was a strange smell, and his head titled from side to side.

"You better be good from now on," he warned her. "I'm the man of this house, I get what I want."

"You're high," she muttered quietly.

"Ah, the mouth speaks," he said, grabbing the back of her neck. "Come here."

He led her to the living room, and pushed her on the couch. She focused on the table, not wanting to look at him. On the table she saw the metal contraption, something he should not have, and shuddered. He picked up his crack pipe and told her, "Don't tell your mother about this, she won't believe you anyways."

Put the pipe back in his hiding he place, he turned to her still grinning. "Not so talkative today, are you?"

She suddenly felt sick. "What do you want?"

His grin widened. He stood in front of her, blocking her in on the couch. "I think you know. Your mother is gone, and like I said last time, you did grow up nice."

For the first time that night, her body responded. She dove to the side, avoiding his body that crashed down on the couch to capture her. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she started running towards the door. But he was right behind her, slamming her body against the wall.

"Think you can get away from me?" he taunted, forcing her to face him and pinning her down.

"No, please don't," she muttered. His body weight pressed against her, making her feel like she was about to be squished.

He laughed a little to himself and then his lips found hers. He was nothing like Shawn. Shawn was soft and sweet, with a good kind of passion behind it. Nick was harsh and cold, his lips were cracked and nothing good was in this kiss.

She fought back, her hands smacking him futilely on the chest. Her head tossed to the side, trying to throw his lips off her. Annoyed he grabbed both of her wrists in one hand, while his other hand wrapped around her hair and pulled.

With a cry her head became immobilized and his lips were biting into her neck. She whimpered in pain, pleasing him.

"Now why does this seem so familiar? Oh that's right, you were twelve and so little, and I was pulling you by your hair. Do you still have my scars? Let me see," he ordered, letting go of her hair and began pushing up her shirt.

"No! No!" she screamed, tears sprang to her eyes as she tried to fight back, but was captured by him.

He ripped the shirt off of her, and grinned at all the scars. Those scares were his crowning achievement, and he could not help but remind her about them. "I tossed you through that window with such ease. I still remember your little scream of pain."

"Please, stop," she whimpered.

"You laying there, with all the broken glass shimmering around you, crying. It just annoyed me, so I gave you something to cry about, didn't I?" he asked, evilly.

She sniffed in response.

"Answer me," he growled. She did not answer. He kissed her, biting her lip roughly.

Yelping in pain, she cried, "Yes."

Grinning, he said, "Yeah, I did. I grabbed your hair," he grabbed her hair to demonstrate, "and pulled you across all those shards of glass. You were so bloody and suddenly got quiet; I thought I might have killed you. But then when I pushed against that shard of glass, and you screamed, I knew you were fine."

He glanced down at her stomach, and his hand pressed up against her longest scar. "It was right here," he muttered, pushing harder, making her flinch.

Grinning, he muttered, "Now, back to what we were doing."

He began kissing her, his hand grabbing at her young perky breast.

"No!" she screamed, and pushed him off of her.

He stumbled, and that was all Gloria needed. She ran into the kitchen, just trying to escape from him. She heard his footsteps following her, so grabbed the first thing she saw, a butcher knife.

He stumbled in the kitchen, glancing at the knife. "You going to stab me?" he asked.

She nodded, not aware of anything other him and the knife. She was not going to let this happen as easily as he wanted, it was going to be her turn to scar him.

"You're too weak, you're just as pathetic as you were when you were twelve," he told her, getting closer.

She lashed out with the knife. She was not sure what she was doing, just waving it around hoping to scare him away, or by some odd chance hurt him. In truth, she did not even see the blade connect with his skin. She had seen him put up his arms defensively, but somehow missed the steel connecting with his pink skin. She did hear him swear, and see the bright red blood beginning to trickle out of his wound.

She stared at the vibrant blood, horrified by it. She almost dropped the knife, but seeing Nick come towards her, full of rage brought her back to focus.

"You little bitch," he hissed and made an attempt to grab her.

She kept moving the knife back and forth at him, actually cutting him a few times. There was more blood, and she had to focus on anything else to keep from throwing up. The crimson smell lingered in the kitchen, suffocating her and she wasn't sure how much longer she could handle it. But what really did Gloria in was when the knife slashed into Nick's palm, leaving a deep gushing gash. It was not just the gash though, it was the fact he smacked her across her cheek with that hand, leaving a warm gooey substance behind. That is what freaked her out so much, she dropped the knife and almost threw up.

Nick lunged on her weakness, toppling her to the floor. Her head spun for a few moments, after it bashed against the ground. She tried to focus and reach for the knife, but his hands were wrapped round her neck. As she tried to fight him off, his grip became stronger and stronger till she was at the point of seeing nothing but blackness.

And then consciousness came to her. Blinking her way back into the world of color she heard two voices, Nick's and her mom's. Hope rose in her, her mom was here, her mom would make him stop. But then she heard the conversation.

"So if you could just go pick those things up, that be great," Nick called out, still on top of Gloria.

"Can it wait till tomorrow? I just got back from the store," Sarah asked, sounding like she was walking towards the kitchen.

"No damnit, go back to the store," Nick yelled, his hand still gripping Gloria's neck.

"All right, so you need a razor and shaving cream?" Sarah clarified, her footsteps becoming quieter.

Gloria began to yell out, but Nick's hand muffled her voice. Panicking, she tried to figure out how to get her mother's attention. Gloria knew the table was down by her legs, so she kicked it, making a loud bump.

"What was that?" Sarah asked concerned.

"I hit the table by accident," Nick told her, glaring at Gloria. Smirking at him, she hit the table again.

He grabbed the forgotten knife and pressed it against the base of her neck, a look in his eyes daring her to do anything. She felt sick as the cool steel tickled her hot skin.

"Are you all right?" Sarah questioned, sounding like she was at the kitchen door.

"Fine," he replied, and Gloria kicked the table one last time, praying her mother would do something in time.

The sound of shattering glass reached Gloria's ears and she shuddered at an all too painful memory. At the same time her thoughts were consume of pain, as her neck began to sting where the knife previously was. Yet despite this, Gloria was sure her mother would have entered the kitchen and saw Nick and would finally do something

Nick glanced over his shoulder at the broken bottle and added, "Get some more beers while you're out."

"Yeah okay," her mother's voice answered, sounding distracted and distant, maybe even horrified at something she had seen.

_Please Mom, please_, Gloria kept thinking to herself.

"Well, I'm off," Sarah said after a few moments of silence. It sounded now like she was running towards the door, but not before adding a, "I love you, bye!"

Gloria's world came crashing down. She had expected her mom to do something for her, for once in Gloria's life, but her mom just left her there to be tortured by Nick. She could not believe it was happening again.

"You think you're so damn clever don't you?" Nick spat, and slapped her again. "But mommy doesn't love you, if she did why would she have let me come back? She doesn't care about you, no one does. When are you going to learn that?"

Gloria did not move, her mouth remained shut, and she just could not think anymore. And as Nick's hands moved to unbutton her pants and force them off, her yell was barely a whisper and her fist felt like nothing more then light poking. Her cries and hits were not damaging, just repetitive and annoying.

Nick, growing frustrated, grabbed a shard of glass from the broken bottle and ran it across her stomach. She shuddered at the cool sensation of glass grazing across her skin. He pressed down harder, and she felt stinging consume her stomach. She knew he had broken the skin, and as he pressed down harder, the stinging grew worse and there was more pain as he dragged the shard up her stomach. The leftover drops of beer burnt as they entered her wound. Moaning in pain, she started to cry.

It was not a loud hysterical crying that would have been high appropriate for the situation, but rather a soft whimper, where tears just slowly rolled down her face. Still, she was crying, he had finally broken her. She could not even fight back as his fingers traced the edge of her underwear, and tugged them down.

She lay naked on the kitchen floor for sometime, just staring up at the dirty white ceiling. Her mind told her to get up, stop lying on the dirty floor where the spilt beer had crept its way over to her, making her bare skin stick to the floor. It only took about an hour, but her body finally listened.

She headed up to her room and got dressed quickly, in some kind of fog. She didn't look at herself in the mirror, she didn't need to see the bruises across her face from his hits, or the mark of his hands around her neck now accessorized with dried blood. As she pulled on a shirt, she did her best not to look at the still bleeding streak down her torso, ignoring any blood the seeped through her shirt and any pain that came with it.

She quietly walked down the stairs, doing her best not to wake a snoring Nick on the couch. She had reached the bottom of the stairs, when the front door opened. Her mother stumbled in, carrying a thirty pack of Nick's favorite beer. She put it down and tried to take a step forward, but nearly fell down.

Gloria just stared at her mother from the stairs. Her mother was apparently dealing with her problems the same way Gloria had, by drinking. It seems that it is genetic.

Sarah glanced up at the steps, and nearly fell down again when she saw her daughter. Face bruised, with dried blood on one cheek, handprints around her neck along with blood, and a line of blood that seeped into the shirt on the stomach. Sarah shook her head and grabbed a can of beer from the package. As she opened the can, Gloria kept walking down the stairs and planned on not stopping.

Sarah just watched, not sure what to say to her daughter. As Gloria's hand reached for the door, Sarah observed, "You're limping."

Gloria halted, and stared at her mother in amazement. The one injury not directly caused by Nick is the injury her mother focuses in on.

"If it hurts we can go to the doctor," Sarah suggested.

"Now?" Gloria asked, trying not to get her hopes up that her mother might do something for the Gloria's sake.

"Well, not now, but if it still hurts tomorrow we can go," Sarah told her.

Gloria shook her head and opened up the front.

"You love me, right baby girl? You still love your mom? I can go get you a couple aspirins," Sarah offered, making Gloria stop.

Gloria looked at her mother. She was a pathetic sight, begging her daughter to tell her she loved her. And Gloria did her best to always love her mother, despite everything.

"Yeah Mom, I love you, but a couple of aspirins just won't do the trick," Gloria explained and then exited the house.


	14. Hey Mister, We Have Your Sister

Carlton sat at his desk, his face in his hand. Karen had given him three hours to find Gloria, before she had to take her police force back under control. There had been no luck. And Carlton had finally seen the background check on Nick.

Juliet came over to her partner and said comforting, "Everything's going to be fine, she's a smart kid."

"She was thrown through a glass window, after she called her mother's high boyfriend a jerk at the age of twelve, and now that same guy is back in her life, so don't tell me everything is going to be fine!" Carlton roared, it was killing him that Gloria had to go through that. "Five to seven years, they only gave that bastard five to seven years! And it took ten months to finally have the bastard behind bars. And they let him out after only five years! With the easiest parole too. What kind of parole lets him leave the state or live with his victim?"

"Maybe he lied about where he was living?" Juliet suggested. "Or maybe someone lied for him about where he would be living. I'm sure the system would never let him reside there if they knew Gloria lived there too."

"Are you suggesting my sister would lie for him then? That she would willing let the man who hurt her child back into their life?" he snapped.

"Well maybe," she said softly. "We've seen drug addicts disregard their babies health as long as they can score."

"My sister isn't a Goddamn drug addict!" he hissed even though he realized she had a good point.

Shawn had just finished filling Gus in about everything they knew regarding Gloria.

"They let that bastard out?" Gus yelled, shocking Shawn. He had hardly ever seen Gus truly yelled and mean it, something he reserved for when he was seriously angry. "After what he did to Gloria? She was twelve goddamnit!"

"I know, none of us can figure out why he was released either. You think once Gloria heard he was up for parole, she would have showed up to contest it," Shawn agreed. "One look at her stomach and no one would let that bastard out."

"Wait, you know what her stomach looks like?" Gus questioned suddenly.

"Nothing like that," Shawn assured him. He spoke the truth, he did not see Gloria's stomach when they were having a moment of passion.

"Shawn, I swear to God-" Gus began, but Shawn's cell phone interrupted him.

Shawn picked it up quickly, greeting with an overly merry, "Helllloooo!"

He paused for a long time and confused look crossed his face. "Uh huh, sure. I'll be right there."

"What is it?" Gus asked, worry evident in his face. Shawn never got quiet.

"My sister's in the hospital," Shawn told him, looking at him confused.

Shawn rushed to the hospital and quickly stormed the emergency room. He bombarded the front desk, almost yelling, "I'm Shawn Spencer, you called about my sister. Where is she? Can I see her?"

"Right," the woman at the desk said, flipping through the charts. "She's in room 2A, but you should really prepare yourself."

Whatever the woman said after the room number was lost on Shawn, he ran towards the direction of the room. He did not brace himself for what to expect, he just entered the room.

Gloria was lying in bed, glaring at her doctor, and snapped, "Can I have my clothes back now?"

"Not until your brother shows up," the doctor told her, probably for the sixth time, sighing.

"Uh, that would be me," Shawn introduced himself with a small wave.

Gloria quickly glanced at him, but then quickly glanced away. But Shawn had seen the damage he did to her face. Bruised cheek, black eye, cut lip and the ever-present handprints on her neck. He cringed and looked at the doctor for some answers.

"Well Mr. Spencer, if you mind stepping outside I'd like to talk to you about your sister's condition," the doctor told him.

"Well, I think we should get my sister her clothes first, so she's more comfortable," Shawn replied, smiling at Gloria who just looked at the ground.

The doctor nodded and exited the room. Shawn walked over to Gloria's bed and asked, "So sis, want to tell me what happened?"

She shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "They wouldn't let me leave unless I had a family relative come sign me out. So we're only half brother and sister. Mom was a whore, Mom is a whore."

"And our Uncle wasn't good enough? He's really worried about you, you need to call him and tell him what happened," Shawn explained kindly to her.

"It was nothing, my new Dad got high and hit me," Gloria defended, tears welling up in her eyes. "'Sides, I'll call him from what ever city I end up in."

"Gloria, please don't leave," Shawn pleaded, reaching out a hand to comfort her.

She flinched away before he could touch her and muttered, "Please don't touch me."

"I'm sorry, but please tell me what happened," Shawn begged.

"Nothing, I just want to get my clothes and get out of here," she told him, having a few tears slip down her face.

The doctor entered the room, with a bag of clothes. He handed Gloria the bag saying, "I really think you should spend the night, Miss Montgomery."

"Well I asked for a second opinion from Dr. I-don't-give-a-crap, and he says there's nothing wrong with me leaving," Gloria retorted and started pulling clothes out of the bag.

"Um, Doc, you needed to speak to me?" Shawn asked.

"Yes, please step outside for a moment," the doctor requested, and Shawn followed, with on last glance at Gloria. She was out of bed, pulling on her jeans.

As soon as the door shut, the doctor turned to Shawn. "I'm afraid your sister might try to kill herself if she unattended for any period of time. She needs serious psychiatric help after her ordeal. She doesn't seem to be giving her health any thought. She might self-destruct if she leave here."

"Huh, what happened to her?" Shawn asked.

"She came in here, bruised and bloody, with indication of sexual assault," the doctor explained.

"Rape? She was raped?" Shawn exclaimed. He ran his hand nervously through his hair. "Oh my God, you have to call her uncle. I'm not her brother, I'm her boss. Call her uncle, Detective Carlton Lassiter of the SBPD. Call him now."

"She won't let us file an incident report, she barely let us do a rape kit and that was only because we told her that was the only way to give her the Plan B pill," the doctor informed him.

"Oh my God," Shawn mumbled. "Okay, you call her uncle, I'll go in there and try and get her to talk."

Shawn entered the hospital room, trying to brace himself. Gloria was dressed, tying up her shoe. She glanced up at him and the nervousness in his face told her he knew. "So much for doctor-patient confidentiality," she muttered.

"Gloria…"

"Stop, we're not talking about it," she told him fiercely.

"But Glor, he…" Shawn could not bring himself to say it.

"Shut up!" she yelled at him. "I'm not going to talk about it."

"You need to report him, you can't let him get away with it," Shawn told her quietly.

"I didn't report it six weeks ago, why start now?" she mumbled bitterly to herself.

"WHAT! Was that what made you stop smoking? Him raping you?"

She turned away from him coldly. She was not going to deal with this also. She did not need her boss in her business. There was no way she was going to talk about that night she had been so high she could not move to defend herself, trapped by her own vice.

"Gloria, if you report this, your uncle can arrest him and keep you safe," Shawn encouraged.

"The doctor's looking for you," she told him indifferently.

Shawn sighed and muttered before he walked out the door, "Think about it Glor."

Shawn walked over to the doctor, and in his best Bugs Bunny impersonation asked, "Ehh, what's up Doc?"

The doctor was not amused and looked rather annoyed. "Yes, is there something I can help you with?"

"Didn't you want to talk to me?" Shawn asked.

"No, now is she going to file a report or not because we have a huge trauma coming in and we're going to need the bed?"

Shawn did not listen to the doctor, he whipped around and stared at the now empty room. "Shit."

Carlton was not listening to the chief or his partner as they discussed the new case. He was instead staring out the window directly behind the chief's head. It was getting dark out and Carlton was not even sure if Gloria was still in this shadowy city. He did not want to be in this office, he wanted to be out there looking for her.

"Detective Lassiter, at least appear to be paying attention," Karen snapped, breaking his gaze from the window to her.

Looking down on the ground he mumbled, "Sorry chief."

"Listen, I know you're worried about your niece, but you need to focus, you are the Head Detective around here," Karen reminded him.

He knew to say she was right and he will no longer be shrugging off his responsibilities for his niece since she was now a legal adult, but he did not say that. "Yeah, I'm worried about her, but I have a right to be. There's a man who's abusing her at her home, her mom wouldn't notice if the sky fell down, she's prone to drinking and using drugs to solve her problem, and now she's disappeared and no one can find her. So sorry if the fact that I am the Head Detective hasn't been in the forefront of my thoughts!"

"Detective Lassiter," Karen began, but he cut her off.

"No, I can't sit here any longer and wait to get the phone call she's been arrested or hurt or killed. I'm going after her," Carlton told his boss and started heading towards the door.

"What about this case?" Karen inquired, not sure to be angry with her employee or support him.

"Give it to O'Hara, she can handle it," Carlton explained, over his shoulder. He had every intention of walking out that door, but his ringing cell phone stopped him.

"What?" he snapped into it. "Yeah, I'm him, who are you?" His tone was sharp. "From where?" His voice became much softer, and the two female police officers could tell something was wrong. "Is she okay? What happened?" He needed to sit down, his legs were about to give out. "All right, I'll be right there."

Juliet and Karen stared at him from a few moments, taking in how the strong reliable detective they have always seen, look completely helpless sitting on the chief's couch.

"Carlton," Juliet began cautiously. "What's wrong?"

"That was Doctor Shivanee from the Santa Barbara Hospital," Carlton answered, but had to stop and steady his voice. He barely managed to keep his voice from cracking when he told them, "Gloria was raped."

There was a long pause, till finally Carlton stood up and said in a daze, "I need to get to the hospital."

Juliet knew her partner was in no condition to operate heavy machinery. "Here, I'll drive you."

He just nodded, still trying to convince himself this was all a bad dream.

Walking through the hospital doors, smelling all the sickness and death, Carlton knew this was not a bad dream. Seeing Shawn pace the floor nervously also helped snap Carlton back into reality. If Shawn was being serious, something very bad had truly happened.

"Shawn, where is she?" he asked, his voice strangely soft. Gloria was not in any of the rooms he had passed.

Shawn shook his head lightly and answered, "She's gone."

Sense left him, Carlton grab Shawn and shook him. "The doctor said she wasn't in any serious danger, how could she have died?"

Shawn quickly realized his mistake in word choice and corrected with a meek smile, "I meant gone like she left, not died."

Releasing him Carlton yelled, "Don't use words like that in a hospital Spencer!"

"Sorry, but Gloria ran away and is probably on a bus somewhere out of state," Shawn replied.

Carlton was ready to swear or punch something, when he remembered what happen last time he chased a bus. "No, she's not."

"She told me she would call you from whatever state she ends up in, she's heading out of the state," Shawn argued. "I don't even need to call on the spirits for this one."

"Good, because they would be wrong," Carlton shot back. "If I know one thing about Gloria it's that if you give her a chance to be center stage, she'll take it. And that kid from the bus said she would be singing tonight, she's not going to pass that up."

"So we're going clubbing?" Shawn asked with a gleeful smile.

A/N: so basically, you are now caught up to my writing... and it might take a while for the next chapter, but on the plus side this story is reaching it's end!! only a couple more chapters! yay! 


	15. Monster in Mommy's Bed

A/N: Please forgive the song, my music muse is pretty much nonexistence, and she need a song, so it's supposed be really good that everyone loves, but in reality, it is complete crap. Sorry again, and sorry for the long time for an update, college is hectic.

Carlton, Shawn and Gus could not even take one second to stop and realized how perfect it was that as they arrived to The Python Effect, a cover of Papa Roach's song "Last Resort" ended. They were too busy to focus on getting in and finding Gloria to contemplate the amazing musical coincidence.

Getting in was the first hassle. The bouncer at the beginning would not allow them in, even after Carlton flashed his badge. The bouncer demanded a search warrant, something he learned to ask for after Carlton's last visit to the club. Carlton was not having it, he flashed him his badge again, but this time he followed it with his gun. The bouncer quickly ushered them in.

The smell of sweat hit them in the face as soon as they entered. The music was deafening, Carlton had to scream to Shawn and Gus to spilt up and find Gloria. The three men nodded, each one determined to flush her out of the crowd and make sure she was okay.

Little did they know if they had just turned around and checked the bar first, they would have found Gloria sitting there, ready to faint. She was taking shallow breaths, her face had paled, and Dylan's girlfriend, Sheri, was fretting around her.

"Gloria, you don't look so good, are you sure you're up for this?" she pestered.

"I'm fine, but if you really want to help, go convince the guys to move my segment up to next," Gloria told her and let out a sigh of relief when she saw Sheri make her way to the stage. Glancing up at the bar tender, she managed a tiny smile and commented, "She's such a mother hen."

"Someone's got to look out for you, dolly," the bartender replied with a smile.

"Not you too, Greg." It did not set off any concerns for Gloria that she knew the bartender's name.

"All right, fine," he responded, and then changed the subject. "Your makeup looks really good tonight, you out did yourself. The bruises on your neck look like actual hands, and the gash on your neck looks like it's still bleeding."

Her hand rose to her neck, to check if she was still bleeding, but his voice stopped her. "Hey now, don't touch, you don't want to mess up the makeup."

She brought her hand back down and smiled bitterly at him. "Yes, wouldn't want to smear the makeup." She stood up and then made her way towards the stage.

The banded ended another song, and people watched as woman came up on stage, and quickly whispered something in the drummer's ear. He nodded and as the lead guitar player, also the leader singer, started to speak into the mike, the drummer beckoned him. Annoyed the guitarist glanced over to the bass player, who quickly began talking into his mike.

"Hey guys, we are Products of the System, and we're wondering if you're having a good time?" The crowd screamed. "And in case you wondering, I'm Rob, I play bass. That's Frankie B on keyboard, Dylan on drums, and that's Jeff's beautiful voice you hear while he plays guitar."

The crowd cheered for each one of them, and waited patiently for whatever came next. Rob, not really knowing what to do, glanced over at Jeff and Dylan. Jeff seemed pissed, but finally agreed to something.

Rob, desperate to fill the silence, screamed out, "Are you ready to rock?" The crowd screamed, threw their hands in the air and were ready to start jumping up and down.

"Well, first I'd like to say what a great crowd you're being," Rob told them, glancing nervously, waiting for him to do something.

The crowd settled down, disappointed that the band was not playing a song yet. Jeff seeing this, seized his mike and greeted the crowd, "All right guys, since you're being such an awesome crowd, we're gonna play a song we normally save to the end the show with. How does that sound?"

The crowded yelled their approval. "This song has become a cult favorite amongst the regulars here at The Python Effect, sing along if you know the words, and Gloria, I could use a little help with this song."

The last part was directed towards the back of the stage, where Gloria was walking on.

Carlton turned all his attention to the stage when he heard Gloria's name. His eyes never left it as he pushed his way through the crowd. Coming up to the stage, he watched as Gloria walked on stage, wearing a black and green plaid shirt, fishnet stockings, a white button down shirt with a black bra underneath it, meeting the approval of every lustful boy in the room, including Shawn. The most striking aspect of her being on stage though, was not her wardrobe, but how the make up she was wearing did not hide her bruised cheek, cut lip, black eye, or the cut along her neck that was still painfully red; instead the make up emphasized those features.

Jeff grinned at her, when the crowd cheered loudly. Speaking into the mike, he requested, "Come on, Gloria, tell us the story of your life."

She nodded, half smiling at the crowd. On stage was the only time she ever felt like she had people's attention. No one was telling her to go play outside and be quiet because mommy was on the phone with some man. All eyes were on her; she took the mike and began singing.

"_Let's start with dear old dad,  
Who was never around.  
Mom scared him so bad,  
He moved out of town.  
I come from a broken home,  
But it didn't bother my mom,  
She was never alone.  
She flirted from boy to boy,  
Till they shattered her heart.  
Then she'd come back to her favorite toy,  
Me, and I'd pick up the pieces_."

It's not that she had a great voice, it was better the most to be realistic, but that's not why the crowd loved her. It was her energy. She was alive, moved about the stage, and made eye contact with crowd, involving them. That's part of why they loved her.

"_Then when I turned twelve,  
Mom found her Prince Charming,  
And my life became a living Hell.  
Now this is the part that gets alarming.  
His name was Nick,  
He was a druggie and a dick.  
When he got high,  
He got violent,  
And thought I could fly.  
As a result, he tossed me through a window_."

She turned around, and walked towards the back of the stage, since it was part of the show, but also to hide her pain and discomfort from the crowd. The guitar player sang into his mike, in an airy voice, "_Hey Gloria, I don't believe ya, I wanna see more of ya. Hey Gloria, I wanna see more of ya._" He motioned to the crowd to join him in his chant, at first only a few did, but soon the entire room was screaming, "_Hey Gloria, I wanna see more of ya_."

He was the distraction. He made the crowd look left while Gloria got ready for the next part of the song on stage right. By the time the whole crowd was chanting in unison, Gloria was ready. She turned around, and strutted towards the center of the stage. Grabbing the mike, she yelled out into the crowd, "You wanna see?"

The crowd cheered, and ripped open her shit, revealing all her scars and the long, still bleeding, cut down her torso. She tossed off her shirt to the yelling fans below her.

The crowded had seen her scars before, this was the ending ritual of the band, and they all assumed she had just used some fancy skills in stage makeup to create them. And sometimes Gloria would have to use a little red stage makeup to emphasize them, just for the folks in the back to see, but she would never create any fake scars, she had an abundance of real ones. Still, no one assumed the song was about real incidents or all her injuries were real too. That's why the crowd went crazy when they saw her stomach since they thought it was an impressive trick on Gloria's part, to make a fake cut look like it was still bleeding.

Carlton did not go crazy in the same way. He went crazy all right, seeing his niece parading around with no shirt, being ogled by most men in the room. He had been in the back struggling to get through the crowd, but once he saw that, he was hastily pushing people aside to get closer and stop her.

"_My monster's not in the closet or under the bed.  
Freddy, Jason, the Boogieman, don't scare me  
'Cause they aren't real, but you want to know who is?  
The monster in Mommy's bed!  
There's a monster in Mommy's bed,  
And I can't sleep no more!  
For five years he been behind bars,  
I was still afraid he would hurt me.  
The police told me I would be fine,  
He was gone, but I still had the scars!  
Then they released him, and he came back,  
Telling me I grew up nice_."

She paused, ever so briefly here, while her band mates were staring at her. This was not part of the original song, this was the first time they were hearing anything like this, but they kept play.

"_Yeah, I grew up nice,  
I could see it in his eyes…  
He didn't want Mom, he wanted me!  
And I screamed no,  
But he wouldn't let me go!  
For five years behind bars,  
He wanted to give a couple more scars!!_"

She started swaying on stage. The mob was sure it was part of the act, not worrying about how much blood she was loosing being so active on stage. Yes, Gloria was not one of those vocalists who just stand in front of the mike and sing, she moved about the stage. She would bend down on stage to make eye contact with the mass of people pushing up on the stage. The crowd loved her for it, idolized her and her scars too.

Still, the moving around the stage was bad for her. She reopened her cut, and was losing more blood, but she had to finish her song. Still Carlton knew the truth, and more forcefully started shoving people out of his way to get closer to the stage.

"I checked the closet,  
Checked under the bed.  
It was all clear,  
But the monster was lurking somewhere else.  
He found his home in Mommy's bed.  
So, now I am mad,  
And now I'm fucked,

'Cuz, that monster is my new Dad."

She could not hear the crowd scream as she finished her song. Everything sounded so far away; it was barely a murmur when it reached her ears. Her head was suddenly spinning and before she could reach out for help, the world was black.

Gloria had always thought passing out would be a good feeling, like drifting off to sleep or feeling weightless, but it was nothing like that. She heard the sound of glass breaking, just like she had when she was twelve. It was the exact same sound, the same crunching and clinking of glass pieces, and she could see nothing. Just empty blackness. She was sure she was finally dead.

The crowd watched as she collapsed. Her knees buckled and then her body tilted to the side and off the stage. A few eager hands shot up, thought for sure she was just about to crowd surf, but a pair of strong arms were the ones to catch her and not let her go.

Holding her tightly, he made his way through the crowd towards the door. The crowd had gone silent, finally figuring out the seriousness of the situation.

Gloria finally forced her eyes open and tried to make sense of what was going on. Her body was moving, not by her doing though. She saw lights whizzing by, making it even harder for her to focus. Her eyes darted to body holding her, confused, trying to make sense of the circumstance. It was her uncle, looking scared, but determined, as he moved through the crowd. She tried to ask a question, but all that came out was a little groan.

Carlton's ice blue eyes looked down, and meet matching ones. He tried to smile, but failed. "Don't speak Gloria, it's okay, I got you."

She nodded slowly and closed her eyes for a long time.


	16. Hospital Food Makes Me Cry Too

Gloria was now stuck in two places she always tried to avoid, the hospital and explaining herself. She did not like hospitals, she avoided them at all cost, except when she absolutely needed to be there. Yet at this time, with new blood being pumped into her to replace what she had lost, she still did not feel the need to be stuck in the hospital. There was a very good reason she hated being in hospitals, they forced her to lie. Gloria could never remember a time when she was ever completely honest in a hospital.

She counted the times and lies. When she was six, she told the doctors she cut herself by falling off the jungle gyms she was playing on. When in reality she cut herself with a knife trying to make dinner since her mom was too upset about a break up to cook. Then when she was nine she told the ER doctor she was playing soccer with some friends when she fell and broke her ankle. Actually, it was Halloween and her mom with her boyfriend went to a party and Gloria had to go trick or treating by herself. She had been running when she broke her ankle, it was just she was running from a dog with the misleading name of Duchess, since Gloria had failed to see the "BEWARE OF DOG" sign on the fence. That house did not want tick or treaters.

But the biggest lie she remembers telling people in the hospital was when she was twelve. She lied and helped cover up crime. She told the doctors, and the police officers that her mom was not home when she was thrown through the window. Gloria lied further and told them all her mother knew nothing of the abuse.

She lied every single time she walked through the hospital's doors, and each time it was by the prodding of her mother.

"Gloria, only a few more questions, okay?" Juliet O'Hara's voice rang through Gloria's head.

She had woken up in the hospital, to find he uncle sitting by her bed. He explained to her that she had passed out again, and he brought her to the hospital where she was undergoing a blood transfusion, and could not leave till tomorrow afternoon. Though she protested, he convinced her to stay, and to give a statement about what happen to the police. Gradually she agreed to every thing and truthfully explained what happen, maybe leaving out a detail or two.

"Yeah go ahead," she sighed.

"You're doing great, just keep tell the truth and you'll be fine," Carlton assured her. She nodded, not believing him.

"Are there any witnesses to the rape?" Juliet asked, knowing it was a long shot and didn't expect there to be any.

Gloria paused for a long time, and her body began to shake.

"It's okay Gloria, just tell the truth," Carlton repeated.

"You know, I don't think I can do this right now," Gloria told her. "Can we try this again later?"

Juliet glanced over at her partner for the answer. He nodded. She looked back at Gloria and answered, "Sure, I'll just give you some time."

With that, Juliet quickly left, leaving Carlton free to ask his questions. "What's wrong Gloria?"

"Nothing, where's Shawn and Gus?" she deflected.

"They went out to get you some stuff you needed," he told her quickly. "Now, why didn't you answer the question?"

"I just can't."

"Why?"

She started crying, as she confessed, "I can't Uncle Carl, if I tell them the doctors will take me away."

"What do you mean?"

"They'll take me away because it won't be fit for me to live at home anymore. She'll be arrested."

Carlton stared at his sobbing niece, shocked by the news.

"She told me if they knew that she knew about the abuse, they'd take me away to a foster home and she'd windup in jail."

His heart was breaking, Gloria went through so much and now he was learning about this. "Your mother knew all along?" he repeated quietly.

She did not seem to hear him, she just kept crying and in between sobs confessing, "She told me if I loved her I would keep it a secret, so I have because I love her. I love her so much, but I can't understand why I'm not enough for her. Why she doesn't love me back."

Carlton embraced Gloria, held her tight and just let her cry out all her tears. He wanted to cry too, Gloria did not deserve this burden too.

As her sobs resigned, Carlton held her closer and whispered softly, "Gloria, you have to tell officer O'Hara about this."

She started shaking her head no and cried, "I can't Uncle Carl."

"Yes, yes you can. You have to, she has to be held accountable for her actions," he told her. He broke the hug and guided her headed up so he could look her in the eyes. "Please Gloria, the best thing you can do is tell the truth. And don't worry about anyone else but yourself."

"But if they take me away where am I going to live?" she asked, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"You're eighteen, they can't take you away, but you can come live with me," he told her. She stared at him shocked and he added, "I want you to."

Gloria wanted to say yes, but instead she stated, "It's just, she's my mom."

"There's something you don't know about your mom," Carlton told her.

"What?"

"She was abused." Seeing her shocked face he went on to explain, "We both were actually. Just not in the same way.

"See, our parents fought and didn't get along. And they each had their favorite child, often using us in fights. I was Mamma's little man, and Sarah was Daddy's little girl. Now Dad would sometimes drink and hit me a few times. He never laid a hand on Sarah though, in his eyes she could do no wrong. Mom on the other hand, well, Sarah could never live up to her expectations. And she let Sarah know it too. Mom would verbally and mental abused Sarah, making her think she was never good enough for anyone to love her. Sometimes I think Sarah had it worse off 'cause I grew up and Dad knew he couldn't push me around anymore, but Sarah never could stand up to Mom."

"Uncle Carl, I'm sorry to hear that, but it doesn't make me want to confess against my mother," she told him honestly.

He nodded. "I told you this because Gloria, even though you love your mother, she will never be able to love you back, they way you need to be. I know you think you're protecting her, but she hasn't protected you, has she?"

Gloria looked down at the ground, knowing he was right, but still she did not feel right turning on he own mother.

There was a knock on the door, saving her from answering. Juliet popped her head back in and told Gloria with a smile, "There's someone here to see you."

Gloria was expecting Shawn, or may be Gus, and smiled a bit at the thought. She knew Shawn and Gus would cheer her up, and she wanted to be cheered up.

It was not Shawn or Gus it was her mother. Gloria's smile fell from her face. It was all right though, her mother was smiling enough for the both of them. She waltzed in like there was nothing wrong, her arms out for a hug announcing, "Baby girl! I came as soon as I heard."

Gloria stiffened as her mother wrapped her arms around Gloria's shoulders.

Carlton was glaring at his sister, fuming with all the words, insults and curses he was holding back.

"If you were so concerned why did you let me leave the house so hurt?" Gloria asked quietly, not bothering to hide her bitterness or anger anymore.

Sarah quickly glanced over her shoulder, checking to see if the detective heard. Juliet had and was looking very perplex. Sarah turned her attention back to her daughter and told her, "What are you talking about? I would never let you leave the house if you were seriously hurt."

"You offered me aspirin Mom, you wouldn't even take me to the doctors, you were going to have me wait a day," Gloria cried. She was done, she was through, she was no longer going to jump through hoops for her mother and she was no longer going to lie for her either.

"Gloria, I don't know what you're talking about, this is the first I heard about you being hurt," Sarah deflected the accusation.

"Get the hell out!" Gloria cried, pointed towards the door.

"I'm not leaving, my baby girl," Sarah stated.

She was putting on the act of a loving, caring mother and Gloria was not having it. "The one time I want you to leave you won't, but all the other times I need you…"

"I would never leave you," Sarah defended, wishing the detective would mind her own business and leave the room. She obviously did not know Juliet O'Hara.

"You saw him on top of me Mom, and you left!"

A silence hit the room, uncomfortable for everyone in the room. Juliet was too stunned to this news revelation to know how to respond. Carlton gripped his chair a little tighter and Sarah glanced nervously at her brother with her help protect me look. And Gloria, well Gloria was not done yet.

"What about when I was twelve Mom, hhhmm?" she asked, her eyes narrowed at Sarah. "You saw the fight starting, you knew he had a temper, you knew he was high, and you left the room. You left him alone with me! And what about when you heard the glass break? What happened after he threw me through that goddamn bay window?"

Sarah's voice was very low. "I wasn't there, I didn't know any of that happened. I wasn't there…"

"You saw me! You saw me bleeding Mom, stop denying it," Gloria yelled, she stopped caring who would overhear or whom she was revealing all her dirt laundry to. "You came into the bathroom afterwards, and wouldn't even talk to me. You just held up on finger and 'shh'ed me when I tried to tell you what happened. You helped pick the glass out of my cuts and then you went out to dinner with him."

Gloria stopped and was glowering at her mother, breathing heavily. Sarah was returning the stare, looking mad as hell.

"You little brat!" Sarah screamed. "Why would you tell them that?" Her hand stretched across her daughter's face. "Do you want to destroy me?"

Carlton jumped up as soon as he saw Sarah raise her hand, but he failed to stop her in time. The stinging red mark on Gloria's cheek was testimony to it.

He grabbed Sarah just as he would a criminal. He turned her around, and pulled out his handcuffs. "Sarah Lassiter, you're under arrest for…" His voice wavered for the first time while arresting someone. "Under arrest for…"

He just could not finish it. Juliet took over for him. "Sarah Lassiter, you're under arrest for endangering a minor and fraud. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law."

"What? She's not a minor anymore and I never committed fraud," she cried, and began struggling against the woman detective's hold.

"I did some research, you lied to the parole board about where Nick Toinopski would be living, you told them you were his sister and you also said you had no children, that's fraud. Your daughter was seventeen and you let a criminal live in the same house with her, that's endangering a minor," Juliet explained, and began leading Sarah out of the room.

Sarah was not having it though. She began struggling even more, yelling out she had done nothing wrong.

It hit Gloria, what she was committing to do by telling the truth and she suddenly regretted it. As her mother was being dragged out of the room, Gloria was jumping out of bed, ignoring the stinging left behind from the needles being ripped out of her arm. Carlton tried to hold her back, but she was too fast for him. She skidded into the hallway, blood dripping from her elbows, and saw her mom trying to kick her way out of the hold.

"Mom," she cried and tried to run towards them. A hand wrapped around her stomach, holding her back.

Sarah's head jerked towards the sound of her daughter, and yelled out, "Baby girl!"

Gloria fought harder against Carlton's hold, while he tried to sooth her, "Gloria, stop, this needs to happen."

"Tell them I didn't do it," Sarah pleaded. "Tell them baby girl!"

"She didn't know! She wasn't there!" Tears poured out of Gloria, as she collapsed into a ball on the ground, with her uncle's arms wrapped securely around her. "Stop it, she's my mom!"

Carlton stroked her hair and whispered as comforting as he could, "It's okay Gloria, you did the right thing. You did the right thing."

"What's gonna happen now?" she sobbed. "Where am I gonna go?"

He 'shh'ed her, and rested his chin on her head. "It's okay, I'll take care of you. I won't let you be hurt anymore. I'll protect you."

And there they stayed, on the floor holding on to each other for dear life, until a nurse helped Carlton move Gloria back to her bed.


	17. You Owe Us One

"Shawn, what are we doing here?" Gus questioned, not angry just wondering why they were at the Santa Barbara Mall instead of the hospital.

"Listen Gus, we all know teenage girls love to shop, so we're letting Gloria live vicariously through us," Shawn explained with a slight shrug. Truth was he just was not ready to face Gloria yet. He needed more time to prepare himself; he hated seeing people in hospitals.

Gus rolled his eyes, clearly not convinced by this bogus excuse. "Really Shawn? I think you're just trying to avoid the hospital."

"Well, there is that, but I also thought we could buy Gloria a pick me up gift," Shawn defended, glancing through the windows of the shops.

"I don't think we'll find a 'sorry your mom's boyfriend abused you' gift in the Hallmark store," Gus muttered.

"No, but I found this," Shawn said, pointing towards the window he had stopped at. It was perfect.

Gus was going to object, remind Shawn Gloria was eighteen now, but he also knew it was the perfect gift.

Let out a deep sigh, Carlton let his head sink into his hands. He had been up for over twenty-four hours, staying by Gloria's side. He had taken a few sips of the hospital coffee, but placed it aside due to the horrible taste. With big black bags under his bloodshot eyes, he looked up to hear Shawn greet him, "Lassie, you look like crap."

"Aw, thanks Spencer, I can always count on you for a kind word," Carlton snapped. He noticed Shawn holding a large pink and purple gift bag, with orange pokadots tissue paper peeking out of bag. "What's that?"

"Cure to cancer," Shawn shot back.

"How's Gloria?" Gus asked, suppressing a grin.

Carlton sighed again. "Physically she's fine. The doctors said she should be ready to go home tonight, but she has a lot to deal with right now. Her mom was arrested this morning."

"Damn," Gus muttered. "How are you holding up?"

"Aw, Lassie's a trooper, ain't you? He might look like crap, but he's hanging in there," Shawn concluded, and then glanced quickly at Carlton and added, "right?"

He rubbed his temples and nodded. "I'll be fine, it's Gloria I'm worried about."

The door to Gloria's room open, and a doctor and a nurse walked out. The nurse spotted Carlton and walked over. "Carlton, Gloria is all set. The doctor just cleared her, she can leave anytime you're ready."

"Thanks Leslie," Carlton replied, "you've been really helpful."

She smiled sweetly at him and left him alone.

Shawn grinned at Carlton and teased, "Oohhh! Someone's on a first name basis with the nurse!! I think she likes you!"

Carlton rolled his eyes and asked, "You guys want to go see her or what?"

"Happy Hanukah!" Shawn cried, entering the room and plopping the bag down on Gloria's bed.

"Aw, gee thanks Shawn, you're a couple months early and I'm the wrong religion, but thanks," Gloria told him, finally managing a smile after her whole ordeal.

"It's from both of us," Gus told her.

She glanced down at the bag and then slowly pulled out the bright tissue paper. Her mouth dropped open when she saw her present. She pulled out a stuffed animal from the bag. It was a hippo, but with a tie-dyed purple scheme, with purple eyes and little blue bow on its right ear. She ran her hands over the hippo, it was so soft, probably the softest stuffed animal she ever had.

"Shawn, Gus, it's…" She had to stop talking, she was getting a lump in her throat. She managed to mouth the words, "Thank you" though.

"It's got four hearts in it," Shawn explained, as he sat down next to her on the bed. "One in each… what are they? Paws, hooves, feet?"

"Feet Shawn," Gus told him.

"Okay, there is one heart in each foot. A heart for each of us, me, Gus, you and Uncle Lassie," Shawn clarified. "Squeeze the feet, you can feel the hearts."

She did so, and felt a surge of emotion. Glancing around at the three men who had been there for her, made a few tears escape from her eyes. She had been used to people leaving her, tossing her to the side, and just disregarding her in general, but these men stayed and helped her. They did not run. They were her heroes for that.

"Hey Gloria, it's okay," Carlton told her, wrapping an arm around her. "We're here for you."

"Yeah, we're all here for you," Gus chimed in.

"So I still have my job?" she asked jokingly, wiping away her tears.

"Only if you tell me where you hid my dried pineapple," Shawn replied, smiling at her.

Somehow they all knew things were going to get much better.

_**Roughly Two Years Later**_

Carlton was enjoying his beer more then usually that night. Was it because Gloria was doing well and getting good grades? Was it because he got a pay raise a couple months ago? No. Well, sure Gloria doing well did bring him happiness, but that was not the reason for his extreme happiness tonight. No, tonight he was happy because finally, after almost five years, he had the proof that Shawn was a fraud. And tomorrow he would finally expose Shawn.

That is why he was happy. Well, to be fair anything that brought Shawn misery made him happy. Call Carlton sadistic, but it was the truth. Shawn was going down tomorrow.

Carlton suddenly felt like singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow", but of course he restrained himself.

A knock on his door distracted him from his happy thoughts. He opened up the door smiling because even though he was not psychic, and never claimed to be, he knew who was there. There was Shawn and Gus, both looking pitiful.

"Hello Conmen!" he greeted.

"Oh Conmen makes us sound so dirty and low, we prefer swindlers, it sounds more gentlemanly," Shawn joked, only halfhearted. Honestly, Shawn was nervous, he did not want to lose his job or go to jail.

"So Spencer, here to gravel for me to keep my mouth shut?" Carlton taunted.

"Actually, we were hoping to talk to you in a civilized manner," Gus told him, with a pleading look.

"I guess you can come in, I hate gloating in my doorway." Carlton motioned for them to follow him in. He led them to his living room and asked, "All right, you boys think you have something to say to change my mind?"

"Listen, Lassiter, I know you hate Shawn," Gus began.

"No, I don't hate, just loath with all my being," Carlton corrected.

"Okay, you might feel that way, but you have to admit, Shawn has helped the police department solve a lot of cases," Gus reminded him. "Shawn helps, he might be a pain in the ass, but he helps."

"We were solving cases before Spencer," Carlton said, to which Shawn let out a laugh, "and we'll solve cases after him."

"Just it will take you a lot longer," Shawn muttered to which Gus hit him.

"Shut up, Shawn, you're not helping."

"He's right, you're just making me want to tell Karen even more," Carlton informed him.

"Please, I've never been able to hold down a job this long before, and I finally can because I'm good at this," Shawn told him. "I can help people, I have helped people, and I can put away the bad guys. Carlton, please, don't take that away from me."

Carlton faked a sigh, but then quickly smiled saying, "Sorry, you're breaking the law."

"But Lassieface-"

"Hey Uncle Carl, I'm home," Gloria called out, as the door shut behind her. She walked into the living, glancing through the mail, but stopped suddenly when she saw Gus, Shawn and her uncle staring at each other. Gloria could feel the tension in the air, and knew something was seriously wrong.

"Hey guys, what's poppin'?" she asked, eyeing everyone.

Shawn quickly glanced from Gloria to Carlton and back again. He suddenly had a solution to his problem. Everyone knew Carlton had a soft spot for Gloria, and Shawn knew Carlton honored agreements.

"Oh, just chewing the fat," Shawn told her casually. "But I think we're just about done."

"I think you are," Carlton agreed with a smirk.

"So we're just gonna give up Shawn?" Gus asked, astonished. "After all the stunts you pulled in the last five years, you're giving up? Well, I'm not. Listen Lassiter, you might think we immature and useless, but how many cases have we solved when you had no clue who did? How many cases did we prove that the person you arrested was innocent? How many times did we save your butt?"

"Uncle Carl, what's going on?" Gloria questioned after Gus finished yelling.

"Nothing!" Shawn and Carlton answered together.

"I'm twenty, I think you can treat me like an adult now," she shot back.

"Almost twenty," Carlton, Shawn and Gus replied in unison.

She smiled at them. "So guys, why are you all yelling?"

"There was no need for Gus to yell," Shawn told her, receiving a weird glance from Gus. "He just simply forgot your uncle owes us one."

"What? I do not!!" Carlton cried.

"Sure you do," Shawn corrected him. "Who took Gloria in and gave her a job when she was a delinquent under the request of her uncle?"

"We did," Gus answered for Carlton.

"Who were the ones who that helped keep Gloria away from trouble?"

"We were!"

"Who is the person that owes us a favor?"

"You are!" Gus cried with a triumphant point at Carlton.

"You do owe them a favor," Gloria added.

"Gloria, you're supposed to be on my side!" Carlton growled.

"The day you dropped my off at the Psych Office, you tried to whisper, but you were too angry to really whisper," Gloria explained. "I heard everything. They agreed to take me in if you left the handcuffs and you were indebted to them. You left the handcuffs on me, so I assume you agreed to the other part too then."

"But this is asking too much," Carlton told her. "They're breaking the law."

"What? By pretending to be psychic? So big deal," Gloria shot back.

"Hold on, you knew?" Gus asked.

She nodded. "I knew after the first couple days of working there. Now Uncle Carl, if you do expose them as frauds, no offense guys."

"None taken, you're on our side," Shawn responded, smiling at her.

"So you expose them and every case they helped on will now have to be reviewed and every criminal they put away now has the perfect case for an appeal. So, even though you think by turning these two in you are keeping order, you're actually creating chaos," she reasoned persuasively.

Gus and Shawn stared at her, impressed. Carlton grinned proudly, despite the fact she was not on his side. "Oh, I forgot to tell you Spencer, Gloria finally picked a major. She's pre-law now."

"I'd hire her," Shawn approved. He then turned to Carlton and held out his hand. "So, you keep your mouth shut about me and Gus, and we call it even?"

Carlton glanced down at the hand, and then over at Gloria. She just smiled sweetly at him. Sighing he took Shawn's hand and shook.

Gloria came up and gave her uncle a kiss on the cheek. "You're doing the right thing Uncle Carl. We can all live happily ever after now."

And they did, except for the occasional migraine Carlton suffered from the antics of Shawn Spencer.


End file.
